City Council - Regular Meeting

I would like to call to order the regular city council meeting close session. The time is now 5:32. City clerk Dorte, will you please call the role? Yes, mayor. Council member, present. Council member Ortiz, present. Council member Tuvillo, here. Mayor Proton Peton, present. And Mayor Sosa, present. City clerk directly, did we receive any written public comment regarding close session items to be incorporated into the record? We did not, mayor. Thank you. Is there a motion and a second to close public comment? So moved. Second.

Sorted by the mayor, the city council will now recess to close session under the following authorities. Um item one, government code section 54957.6, Six conference with labor negotiator James McQueen regarding director for labor negotiations with Downey Firemen's Association, Downey Fire Management Association, and Downey Police Officers Association. Number two, government code section 54956.9D1 conference with legal council existing litigation uh Renato Felix Medina versus City of Downey U Los Angeles County Superior Court case number two NWCV01 696. Item number three, government code section 54957B1, public employee performance evaluation title city manager. And item number four, government code section 54957.6A, conference with labor negotiator, agency designated representative, James McQueen, a director of human resources, unrepresented employee, city manager. We will now recess to close session. The time is now 5:34.

Okay, guys. Here we go.

Good evening. Good evening. I will now reconvene the regular city council meeting close session. Time is now 6:36. City attorney Funk, will you please report the close session action? Good evening, mayor, members of the council, and members of the public. At tonight's close session, council deliberated on all items listed on the close session agenda. There was no reportable action from tonight's proceedings. However, thank you.

Thank you, city attorney Funk. Before we begin the regular city council meeting open session, I would like to remind members of the audience that anyone wishing to speak during public comment must obtain a number card from the city clerk. Number cards should not be exchanged with other meeting attendees. If you decide not to speak after taking a number or decide to leave the meeting early, you must return the number card to city staff. If you did not obtain a number and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room and city staff will issue you a number card. Lining up during public comment will not be permitted and each speaker should remain in their seat until their number is called. The time clock will begin when you begin your comments. Per the city's city council meeting rules and for fire safety regulations, all persons shall remain seated unless addressing the council or entering or leaving the chamber. Standing in the aisles or along the walls is prohibited. There is overflow seating available in the lobby. I know we have a packed house tonight that's temporary. Um, if there are no available seats in the chambers, please proceed to sit in the lobby. I will now call to order the regular city council meeting, open session. The time is now 6:38. City Clerk Darte, will you please call the role?

Yes, mayor. Council member present. Council member Ortiz, present. Council member Trujillo here. Mayor Prom Peton here. And Mayor Sosa, present. Thank you. Now, please uh let's welcome Pastor Tanya Lopez from the Downey Memorial Christian Church for the invocation. Please rise.

Good evening. Thank you for having me. Won't you please join me in prayer? Most loving God, we thank you for the blessing and gift of being gathered here tonight. We thank you for all those who are present here in this room for their voices, for their energy, for their time, and for their dedication to service that is represented here for the city of Downey. We know that it takes many people collaborating and leading, many people volunteering and serving, many people generously giving of themselves in various roles and capacities to create this our vibrant city and community. And so we ask your blessing over all those who are here tonight. We ask you to bless tonight's meeting that you guide us and use us. That you use this time that all that will be shared and discussed, all that will be highlighted will be items and things that help to foster growth, opportunities, creative solutions, new ideas, and innovative projects. We ask you to bless the members of the city council, their staff, all those that work in various departments and that serve in various committees. Remind us too that each of us are part of what it takes to make this city the great place that it is. And so help us to listen to one another, to collaborate in a variety of ways to meet the needs of our city and of our neighbors. We pray all these things and give you thanks. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor Lopez. Now, please welcome for the flag salute Boy Scout Pack 805.

Please remain standing. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Let's hear for pack 805. Please be seated. Now is the time for city council member announcements, requests for future future agenda items, and conference and meeting reports. I will start directly to my left, council member Claudia Fermenta.

Good evening everybody. It is so nice to see all of you. Uh I know the mayor uh wanted to recognize all of you. So we will we will um recognize all of you for being here tonight. Uh it is good to be in the city of Downey. Um very quick mayor, my um I had a great time with my council colleagues last night. Uh we had the uh Santa drive along and it was really terrific to see so many families and children. Uh there were several hundred people uh actually a couple thousand maybe throughout our city. And so I just uh I definitely enjoyed the ride along with Santa and uh the mayor as well as mayor prom and my colleague here uh Oras Ortiz. I also enjoyed seeing a lot of you during Sunday's uh the 74th annual uh Christmas parade that is uh put together by our by our Downey Chamber of Commerce. And I see the executive director here. Welcome, Michael. Uh, welcome to our commissioners. We have several in the house. Uh, Jeannie Wood from Parks and Wreck. We've got Dana Janzac from public works. I know she'll be getting recognition later today. Uh, I've got my planning commissioner, Carrie Uva, also in the house. And so many of you. Uh, I know we have uh Carrie White uh principal of Warren High. Thank you for joining us. And thank you all. Um, my biggest uh wish for all of you is to have a safe and happy holiday season. I cannot believe 17 days till Christmas.

Um, 16.

16. Oh, 16. Oh my goodness. 16. You're right. You're right. Um, but I just want to say merry Christmas, happy holidays, and stay safe. Uh, I know that this time of year, uh, we can be a little distracted and we get so pulled in so many directions, but I I pray that you stay present, that you enjoy the time with each other, and most importantly, um, I want to thank us, our city manager, our assistant city manager, our directors, our staff. Can you give them a round of applause, please? They do they do so much. Um those of us on the dis in elected office, our job is to set policy, but this city would not run as efficiently as it does. Uh and yes, not everything is perfect, but it it wouldn't run the way it does without these people here. Um I do want to acknowledge our fire department and our police department. I know during the holiday season uh we still have our first responders working um day in and day out to keep us safe. So I just want to say thank you for showing up. Uh please engage with us. I like to say engaged communities are strong communities. And if there are issues that are coming up that you need to address, uh please come to city hall. Um give us a call and let us know what your concerns are. We may not be able to address everything and fix everything all at once, but trust me, these people right here um that I have the pleasure of serving with are really committed to all of you. Uh we are committed to serving our Downey and mayor, that's all I have. I just want to make sure that everybody drives safely out there and um

I know our police and our fire uh will be will be watching. So, thank you. Thank you everybody for being here. That'll that'll be all. Mayor, thank you council member fora. Council member Ortiz.

Thank you. Well, I just we have a lot of recognition recognitions today. So, I just want to keep my comments short. Just want to wish you all a merry Christmas. We did have a busy uh month. There was a Christmas tree lighting which was another amazing event. It gets bigger every year. Uh and also shop with a cop. It was another amazing event. So, thank you to our police chief. Uh, I got a lot of list of items that, you know, kids now like, so and for my niece and nephew. So, it's interesting where everybody's going. But, uh, I just want to wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year. And also congratulate our mayor for a wonderful year. So, thank you. Thank you. Come back on Thursday. What?

We'll be recognizing him, giving him all of the recognitions for his work.

Thank you. Thank you. To my far right, Council Member Trill. Good evening. Happy holidays, Downey. These are great times for our city. I don't know if you had a chance to see our beautiful tree. Um, and please look up the list. I think it's on social media for the holiday home awards. One of the things that stands out about Downey during the holidays and on days like Halloween and Christmas is people will come to Downey from the surrounding areas to see the beautiful decorations that are put up by many of our residents. And so I take pride in that. I think it's it's a neat thing that Downeyy's on the map and known for these beautiful streets, houses, and decorative feel during the time. So I hope you're feeling that as well. Uh congratulations to our employees who were recognized. We had an opportunity to recognize our employees. We had an annual service awards. I want to highlight one gentleman. His name escapes me, but he's been an employee for 40 years, I believe. Gus. Um um our employees are public servants. If you work for a government, a school district, that makes you a public servant. I had the privilege of being a public servant, working for school districts as a teacher and then as an attorney for the county. So, city jobs are great jobs. If if you've ever thought of working for government and serving the public, please look in our website. There's usually some jobs available. Consider a career with the city of Downey. Um, congratulations to the city on the LA Phil. Thank you to the county supervisor Han for that. That was a soldout event. It was really awesome to have the LA Phil here in our own uh beautiful theater. The Apollo Lightning uh uh event. Uh it is lit in front of our space museum. So, there's different places you can go and take pictures for your Christmas cards. And the last thing I want to say is riding in the parade, at least two people screamed at us and maybe to you. Where's

Trader Joe's? Um, I I went to the staff to let them know we haven't forgotten. They assure me they're still working on it. Remember, we did make progress. Trader Joe says they're willing to come, but they're looking for a location on Firestone Boulevard. So, we're trying to make it work, folks. We haven't given up. A couple of items if anybody knows right a location open in Firestone. Let us know.

Yes. Yes. Just a couple of items that I would like the staff to look into. There's a piece of land uh behind the um Honda World on Studebaker. Not the new one, but the older one I'm going to call it. Right before you enter the five and the 605 freeway, there's a piece of land there. I would like to see if perhaps we can put up the words Downey there uh before people leave. It'd be great for um some branding for us. I don't know if we have to reach out to Honda World to look into that. Um can I get a second on that? Okay. And where exactly? It's on Stud Baker uh road. So if you're going on Florence

um if I'm going on Florence east, right, it's east and west before I get on. No, but on Florence, I'm going east towards Norwok. Make a right and the Honda world on Student Baker on Make a Right. And at the end of their lot, there's this parent space right before you go into the freeways. That's where I'm talking about. Take a look. It might be Calrand, but we're happy to take a look at it. Okay. Whoever's it is, let let them ask. Let them We can use that to put up our beautiful name. Um

I understand we're going to be having a discussion. Uh Mr. City Manager, I don't know if I need to bring it up regarding the parking lot that is currently being uh used for the night market. Um, will we be discussing the future use of that lot someday? We do actually have that as part of our economic development plan. So, we'll be bringing that back at a future time to talk about that location. Okay. Will that be in the next couple of months? I'm not sure the timing, but uh yeah, give me a Yes. So, then I won't ask that it be agendaized, but I do want to have the discussion about the potential uses for that. And I know that we are limited by the surplus act on that. Um, so Trader Joe's down east sign and that's it. Mr. Mayor, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Trill, Mayor Pro Tim Peton.

Good evening everyone and welcome. It's love great to see all the youth here and I won't be as long because everyone took what I had to say, but there's a few things. Um, attended the Ark. I want to give a shout out to the Ark and their first annual art gala and all the pieces were made by the um clients there. They are adults with developmental disabilities and I I was the auctioneer so it was a great success and we all attended Assembly Blanca Pacheco's third annual turkey distribution. It's been that long since we've been together at the Barbara Riley Center. 1,000 turkeys were given out um and it shows the food need. Thank you for Assemblywoman Pacheco. Uh we did that and we did that and we did that but we haven't done SIAKA. I love promoting animal adoptions. So as the SIAKA representative they are having a they all want you for the holiday. All they want for you all they want for the holidays is you. So on your Christmas list to Santa I need each and every one of you to say a pet, a cat, a kitten, a hamster, whatever they might have. And we want to try to clear the shelters. It's only $25 for all cats, dogs, and rabbits, one day past available date, and they are all uh vaccined, and they have shots and neutered. So again, please try to adopt at your animal shelter rather than privately. We need to clear our shelters. Um then we have a couple items quickly on the consent calendar just to to mention that Ferman Park is going to be undergoing a storm water recapture project. just in a nutshell that it will start taking uh place effective in uh March of 26. We have the funding for it and basically it's to capture runoff water that is up on Florence Avenue. We have a storm drain and we will be creating under the ball fields a vault in a sense to capture it. It come and clean. So, we'll talk about that more later, but that's coming through. And um well, we won't talk about that one. We need to get going. I want to thank again parks and

recck for all they do along with public works. All those events we had, the fire, the police driving with us last night. That was three hours for you guys, right? Yeah. For all of us and um and the administrative team. Our administrative team really puts it together with all the programs that we have. Thank you very much. And I of course thank to the city manager. We can all thank him for keeping the construction deadline on where? Lakewood and Firestone right before Thanksgiving. They promised they'd get rid of the cones, but we're pausing and you were able to do that. Thank you, public works as well. We were telling them to work at for that because

I went out at midnight. Arasio made a video. I made a video. So, but again, it's it's going to make a double left turn lane north and south Lakewood so you can get through quickly. And um oh speaking of trash, well not that way, but we I we like to clean up the city. We like to clean up the city. I have a note that we've reached out to the county and for areas in the wash out. That's county jurisdiction. And also I reached out for CALR, the freeways on the five between like Lakewood and Paramount in that area and we said please clean up, get the the CALR workers out there. I saw trash uh guys collecting trash bags. they were picking up and the wash out over by the island is clean. So, we are all eyes on Downey and my my tagline is get involved in Downey Volunteer. So, thank you everyone. I'm looking forward to the awards coming up. Have a wonderful merry Christmas and happy holiday and happy Hanukkah.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Peppertton. Good evening, everyone. It's good to see a packed house here. I see a lot of bears in the crowd. All right. I'm trying to be fair up here. You said it. I'm an old Warren Bear, just so you know. All right. Um, yes, that's right. Correct.

U, it's good to see everyone here. For the sake of time, I won't repeat all the uh um the events that my colleagues mentioned already. I will mention that the emergency preparedness fair uh that we had this past Saturday was an amazing event. Great turnout. We had close to 200 attendees, a lot of resources, a lot of valuable information. I'd like to um thank and give a special shout out to our Downey Fire Department, Downey, uh Racky and her whole team and everybody involved uh through city staff. So, thank you guys. Let's give them a round of applause. Uh, so we have a lot of presentations tonight.

Yes, a lot more than usual and my apologies to staff in advance. I usually like to keep it down to one or two, but this is my last meeting as mayor and I'm going out with a bang. So, I'm, you know, sorry, but not sorry. Mayor, will be here till 11?

Yes, maybe. So after the presentation, you all don't have to stay here because it's going to be a long meeting. Anyways, before I go down for presentations or turn it over to our city manager at this time, I'd like to, if there are no objections for my colleagues, ask city manager to prepare a holiday closure of city hall to provide a holiday break for our staff from the day um after Christmas to New Year's Eve. On behalf of my council colleagues, if there's no objections, we want to say thank you to city staff for all your hard work you've put in this year. It is much appreciated and uh we can see that uh those services delivered in the streets in the city and we appreciate the uh the hard work. It does not go unnoticed. Just want to say uh uh to staff happy holidays, merry Christmas and here's to a great 2026. I'm happy to take it back to Thank you. Just

just for clarification, it's uh the 26th that the staff would be getting off. I thought I heard from the 26th all the way to New Year's Eve. We'll double check that. Just Friday. It's the one Friday, right? The one the Friday. Mhm. Thank you. Actually, we were looking at um through New Year's Eve, we still have the uh emergency services available, but yeah. I mean, unless there's objections from you guys. Now's the time. I'm sorry. So then we would close the 26th, the 29th, the 30th, and the 31st. Four days.

Uh the 31st we're already closed. Yes. So as I understand the three days would be Monday. Well, Friday, Monday, Tuesday. Are we currently open or closed on the 26th? 26th is open. And then the 29th and 30th we're open. Oh, close. Throwing that out there. If there are any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace. My our our uh our understanding uh was the day after Christmas. Yes. And and they would return to work one day Monday and then they'd be closed Tuesday, Wednesday. My understanding was one day after Christmas, but well, we can get clarify. That's okay. We do that.

We'll clarify that. All right. Thank you. But yes, the staff is um well deserving of that. Thank you. Good. Okay. Now, uh city manager comments. Uh well, thank you, mayor and council. That's uh very appreciative. She sounds very appreciative of that. Uh and uh no comments from staff. Thank you.

Thank you. I will now make my way down for presentations. I'm sorry. I'm not facing the You're here for a presentation. Oh, I thought not yet. Oh, no. We'll we'll call your number.

Good evening everyone and thanks again for being here. Um, so at this time I'd like to call upon Nicholas Cabza from the regional public affairs as the regional public affairs manager from the League of California Cities to present an award to city council.

Awesome. Good evening, honorable mayor, uh, Mayor Prom and council members. Uh, my name is Nicholas Cabza, and I serve as your regional public affairs manager at the League of California Cities. It's a pleasure to be here to honor the city of Downey. Each year, Cal Cities honors uh, cities throughout the state for outstanding and innovative efforts to better serve and respond to needs in their communities with awards known as the Helen Putnham Awards. Helen Putnham was the first female president of the League of California Cities in the mid 1970s. Like many council members, she was a tremendous civic advocate. She was a mayor in Paluma, supervisor in Soma County, school teacher and a principal. She had a reputation for giving her all each of her endeavors and likewise she had a tremendous amount of respect for other city officials who gave 100%. In her honor and memory, Cal's established the Helen Putnham Award program in 1982 to recognize the outstanding achievements by California's cities. The award recognizes innovative and excellent city programs that make communities better places for the residents to live and work. Honores have all made a unique contribution to their community with innovative solutions that improve the quality of life, more efficiently deliver services and programs or provide a new service that responds to a community need. Awards are given in 12 different categories and and were announced at our annual conference in Long Beach. The city of Downey received the esteemed 2025 Helen Putnham award in the community services and economic development category through its efforts to make science, technology, engineering, art, and math accessible and engaging for residents across the greater LA region. Encompassing one month of activities and serving as LA's official science festival, City of STEM leverages the power of over 200 organizations from museums and educational institutions to top businesses and nonprofits. Dedicated to connecting the public to the rich STEM learning resources in the region and working together to engage the diverse communities in the greater uh Los Angeles area, the city of STEM has reached thousands of children and

families throughout the years. For example, in 2024, approximately 30,000 kids, youth, and families attended the event, 1.53 million reached with TV uh and broadcasting coverage. Exhibitors ranged in ages 6 to 8 years old, and 1.63 million digital impressions. So, these numbers really speak to the results of the city of STEM um program that the city has delivered. With over 200 applications received in total, the city of Downey ranked 26 applications uh total under the community services and economic development category. And the judges were unanimous in their decision to select Downey as the winner of this prestigious award. So just wanted to also do a special shout out to um Ben Dicko, president and executive director of the Colombia Memorial Center and the one who really created um the city of STEM. Also sh special shout out to city of Downey mayor and city council for supporting city of STEM. So this recognition is much deserved. Congratulations on behalf of the League of California Cities.

Congratulations.

Congratulations. Congratulations. Yes. Yes.

Congratulations. uh not prepared, which is pretty normal for me. Um I want to say thank you so much to the city, to all of you, everyone who's attended City of STEM over the years. Uh we started this in 2015 simply because nobody knew that we had a science museum in the city of Downey. Um and now we serve the largest county, the most populous county, and the fourth largest economy in the world here in California. And it's a it's a great honor to just be here and to be able to share this with everybody. Thank you so much to the to the league for this and and really thanks to thanks to the city council for supporting all this. All my friends for listen all my friends and the staff for listening to me talk about this incessantly for a whole year. So um anyway, thank you very much. Thanks.

Thanks. Good to see you.

Okay. The next presentation will be a posimus mayor's outstanding citizen award. Mary Louise Burkstrom Robeson devoted nearly seven decades to the children and families of Downey. Born in 1933 to second generation Swedish-American parents. She grew up in Illinois during the Great Depression and carried with her the values of service, humility, and resilience. learned from her World War I veteran father and her mother, a nurse. In 1957, after a chance meeting in Hawaii with assistant superintendent CC Carpenter, and his wife, who recognized her rare talent and invited her to California, Mary accepted her first teaching contract with the Gallatin School District at a salary of 5,250 inflation. From that modest beginning, she would become one of Downeyy's influential educators. Mary served Downey Unified as a teacher for almost 50 years, most notably at Alama Elementary. Go Tigers, where the library now bears her name. She became known districtwide for her groundbreaking use of painting and visual storytelling to teach writing long before arts in integrated literacy became common practice. She contributed to curriculum development, was a Downey Teacher of the Year, and was nominated for the LA County Teacher of the Year. During her career, superintendents and administrators, including Dr. Susman, Wendy Dodie, Linda Kennedy, Donna Booze, Carolyn Horsley, and Leslie Jones, who I see here, praised her as an educator whose classroom was alive with language, hands-on learning, and love, and who

elevated every school community she served. Her influence extends through multiple generations of Downey families. More than a thousand children learned under her, including those who would go on to lead, serve, create, and inspire, all walking the same halls where Mary quietly changed lives every day. Her daughter Margaret, otherwise known as Maggie Robersonson, her son-in-law, her grandchildren, and great grandchildren all continue in Downey Unified, carrying forward the legacy she began. In her final days, Mary remained devoted to learning, faith, and family. Her contribution to Downey is immeasurable, but it lives on in every life she touched, every child she lifted, and every classroom shaped by her example. And at this time, I will call upon Margaret Maggie Almeido to receive a certificate on behalf of her mother. Okay, Maggie, on behalf of the citizens of Downey, in honor of your mother's 50 years of dedicated service and the profound impact she's had on the education, growth, and well-being of countless students, The city council bestows this certificate posimously acknowledging your mother's exemplary contributions and and an and enduring legacy given this ninth day of December 2025.

I now present this certificate to you, this proclamation. Also, I present this city pin and um also a certificate um for adjournment as we will adjourn in your mom's your mother's honor today. So, here you go. Thank you. My family. Yes. Say a few words. Thank you. Um can my family come up?

And um I see a lot of faces. I had a lot of people reach out um with my mom. Some people even save like some of the work that um she did with their kids. And these are like grown-up people. And um like Mr. Driscoll, he was, if you didn't know, Mr. Driscoll was um her student teacher, and I thought that she was going to get rid of me and bring him home because she just thought he was the bee's knees. And um but anyway, my mom, she's great and she loved kids. She loved Downey. And um if you were, if you knew her or you're here today, could you just like raise your hand so that I know? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. She was 90 93 and she was like I said she was recruited by Carpenter the the carpenter not the singers. Um and yeah that's crazy to me. But anyway and Dr. Sesman used to um have a prize where he would uh sub in your class for the teachers. And apparently Lesie Jones said that that was one of the only times he actually stayed the whole day and he wrote her a note and she still has it at home uh saying it was a great day. So So you got to love it. So those are some big names uh that we know. Dodie Carpenter Sman H I don't know. There you go. Anyway, and this is my family. right next to her challenge.

Thank you guys. So the next presentation will be uh a mayor's outstanding s outstanding citizen award to Susman Middle School students John Julian Figareroa Manuel Alfredo Mendes and Vincent Carlos Moreno and how this came about uh First off, for those of you who don't know, this is my last meeting as mayor this year. Um the mayor's outstanding citizen award kind of opened it up to the public and uh if anybody knew of anybody who was doing some outstanding work in the community, I wanted to hear about them so um that we can recognize them. And uh these students um I uh I had the the pleasure of meeting them at the kids and cops day by gangs of Downey and PD Downey PD. And uh had a nice conversation with them and I was really impressed by the fact that uh you know I'll read their bios but these kids took the initiative and as I mentioned earlier we did have a an emergency preparedness fair uh to let residents know of the available resources to be prepared. As you say, we can't predict the future, but we can certainly prepare for it. But these kids, I was really impressed that they were taking the initiative to uh put a community resources fair together. They uh they got together with me. They uh they interviewed me. They had some tough questions, some great questions, and I was really happy, really, really impressed by these kids. So, here we go. John Julian Figureroa, Manuel Alfredo Menddees, and Vincent Carlos Moreno are students in the IB Middleear program at Susman Middle School. They consistently demonstrate academic excellence, strong leadership, and good citizenship within

their school community. This school year, as part of the eighth grade IBMP program, students are participating in a community project. a project in which they identify community need, research it, and take meaningful action to address it. For their project, John Manuel and Vincent have chosen to design and host a community resource fair during their school's open house on March 12th. Their goal is to bring community agencies to campus to raise awareness, provide support to families, and bridge gaps in resources and access. In their efforts, they connected with me to gain insight on how to host an event that is inclusive, accessible, and helpful to the community. Throughout this process, the students are receiving support and guidance from their high school leaders, teacher, and teachers who are assisting them as they navigate partnerships and outreach. The students are working hard to build partnerships with local agencies that will benefit the families and students of Susman Middle School. Their vision goes beyond this school year as they are hoping to establish a resource fair that becomes an annual tradition at Susman. They certainly have my support on that and I believe the council. I am honored to recognize these remarkable students for their initiative, compassion, and involvement with the community to serve his families. Let's hear for these three fine young men. That's your cue to come up, kids.

This susman middle principal Connie Canto so I'll read this. This is addressed to John Julian Figueroa. I'm going to read it once. They all say the same thing. Okay. In recognition of your exceptional achievement in the IB middle years program at Susman Middle School, you have demonstrated strong leadership, academic excellence and exemplary citizenship through your uh community project, organizing a community resource fair that connects Susman families in the Downey community with valuable local services. Your initiative, collaboration, and dedication to service reflect a meaningful and lasting contribution to both your school and the greater Downey community. Uh I'm really impressed and I'm really uh proud of you guys given this 9th day of December 2025. I present each of you with a pen, a city pen. And uh John, here's your certificate.

Thank you. Vincent, there you go. Your Emanuel, the cheer for these guys. Do you want me to say something? I'm going to be Yeah, just Hello everyone. Yeah,

hello everyone. Um, I know not a lot of people who know who I am and uh I know this is very exciting and it's probably the first time I've ever been here at city hall. I just want to thank my family for supporting me in this and um I hope that uh the goal for our resource fair is um to bring uh assessment families and uh the community together so students can be uh better versions of themselves and whenever they need help they know where to go. And we really hope that we can gain your support in this resource fair. And we hope that as susman uh pioneers um yeah um we hope to have your support and uh reach better students for our uh reach better future for our students. Sorry. Yeah.

Testing. My name is Manuel Mendes. I'm from Susman Middle School. I would like to thank the mayor, my friends, and my family and Susman for supporting me throughout this. I wouldn't think that I can do this, but I have my friends and the mayor to support me through this. Well, same sentence. I think that if we do this that Susman pioneers could hopefully inspire others for continuous generations and that hopefully we can make the school a better environment for everyone including parents and teachers. That's it. Yeah.

Uh, can we have their families come up and we're going to take a group picture

and I want to congratulate the parents. Let's give these these parents a round of applause. Stand together. Come to the front.

Usually stand. I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay, the next presentation is a another mayor's outstanding outstanding citizen award to Dana Janzac, a community volunteer. Dana has been an active and dedicated member of the Downey community for many years. She has contributed through numerous volunteer roles, including serving as a room parent and u school center coordinator at St. Raymond School, as well as a Girl Scout leader. She has continued her involvement through the uh Margaretta Guild PTO serving as a team mom for lacrosse uh president of the volleyball booster club and as a member of the flur de lease guild. In 2020 she expanded her in um community engagement volunteering with local campaigns at the Downey Theater where she continues to serve. She joined the Assistance League of Downey in 2023 and quickly assumed leadership roles

serving as hospitality chair and thrift shop chair. The current uh she currently manages the second time around thrift shop on Downey Avenue and serves on the organization's board, finance committee, and risk management committee. She oper she also represents the assistance league as an ambassador for the Downey Chamber of Commerce and recently joined the board of the Downey Symphony. busy busy. In 2024, she was appointed as a public works commission uh commissioner for district 1 or the public works committee where she proudly continues to serve. Her dedication and tireless efforts have made a lasting impact on Downey and the community is grateful for her ongoing contributions. Please join me in welcoming Dana Janzac. Dana, in recognition of your outstanding dedication and service to the Downey community, you have devoted countless hours to supporting schools, local organizations, and community programs, enriching the lives of families, students, and neighbors. Through your tireless efforts efforts, you have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the well-being and vitality of the Downey community. I present this to you this mayor's outstanding outstanding citizen award given this nth day of December 2025. Congratulations.

Good evening, Mayor Sosa, city council members, and Downey residents. Wow, what an incredible honor. I am very humbled. First and foremost, I would not be standing here tonight without my husband, Mark. His hard work gives me the opportunity to volunteer, and his constant encouragement keeps me going. He is my number one cheerleader and my rock, and I am so grateful for him. I am also blessed with the unwavering support of my children, EMTT and Ana. They have grown up watching me volunteer, and I hope I've shown them the joy and purpose that comes from serving others. To my friends, family, and neighbors who are here this evening, thank you. Your encouragement, your friendship, and your belief in me means more than I can ever put towards. Knowing I have a community behind me makes every project and every volunteer hour even more meaningful. I often think about something Council Member Claudia FTHA says, "Engaged communities are strong communities." Those words stay with me. I believe that when we show up, when we give our time, and when we support one another, we strengthen not just our city, but each other. Downey has given so much to me, friendships, opportunities, and a true sense of belonging. It is a privilege to give back in any way I can, and I look forward to many more years of good health, good energy, and good company so I can continue serving this community I care so deeply about. Thank you again for this incredible honor and allowing me to contribute to the city we all live. It truly means the world to me. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Okay, the next presentation. Hang with me. Mayor's outstanding outstanding citizen award to my Tokayo. Hector Schmidt, community volunteer. Um, Mr. Schmidt settled in Downey many years ago, believing it would be a wonderful place to build a life and raise a family. Now a retired LA Unified biology and health science teacher, he has made a daily routine of walking with his dog as his primary choice of exercise. During the onset of the CO 19 pandem pandemic, he began incorporating community cleanup efforts into these walks, a practice he has continued ever since. And this is in district two uh around Old River School Road. We are grateful for that. His regular cleanup routes often include local schools, parks, community areas, and especially the stretch of Old River School Road between Laura Street and Quill Drive. Through these daily efforts, Mr. Schmidt stays active while giving back to the community he deeply cares about. When

people occasionally thank him during his walks for volunteering to clean up, he responds by expressing his gratitude in return. Mr. Schmidt appreciates the recognition as we are thankful for for him as well for his continued contributions to the community. Um I am um gratefully thankful for Mr. Schmidt uh not only for the city of Downey but for District 2. He's u it's amazing. He's taken the initiative. He he does this on a daily basis. every day he's picking up trash. Um, and I those efforts have to be applauded. Let's hear for Hector Smith. So, the mayor's outstanding go ahead. The mayor's outstanding citizen award in recognition I'll turn around of your outstanding dedication to the county community through daily walks and volunteer cleanup efforts. You have made a lasting impact on local schools, parks, and neighborhoods. Your commitment to giving back while staying active reflects exemplary service and a deep care for the community of Downey. I present this mayor's outstanding citizen award given this ninth day of December 2025. Congratulations, Hector. Well, um resident of older risk road since 1998 when I got married and um

happily still living there uh residing and a lot of great experience uh living in the city of Downey and meeting a lot of nice people while on my walks. uh when they thank me, I return and thank them and um for from from a very basic simple chore of just picking up uh local trash and dispensing it and uh getting involved with the cleanup efforts. Uh Carol Roland has now has retired for a couple years now and uh to all the people who make such efforts, I thank them as well. God bless. Oh yes, my wife. Okay. Where's where

my pet is trash? Oh yeah, it's a simple thing to fix.

He has the app, right? He does it all. Yes. So now we move on a certificate of recognition to the Warren High School boys and girls cross country teams. Go Bears. Uh my son's in the audience. He's a Warren Bear. And uh my wife is the one that brought this to my attention and she's a Warren Bear as well. So the boys and girls uh I I was really impressed when I saw this cuz I know how difficult it is. Did you guys run here? No. Okay. Uh I know how difficult it is uh to achieve uh the honor of being league champions. But when I saw that, you know, that alone u let alone is a u quite the feat. But to have boy the both boys and girls um accomplish that, that's amazing. And I'm sure uh coach you guys coach and the administration, you guys did an amazing job. So boys and girls cross country, both teams earned dominant Gateway League championships. Freshman Katherine Gomez in the 2025 girls gateway league champion is the Gateway League champion for 2025 with a course record time of 1756. Uh not sure what that sounds impressive. Junior Wim Sandaval is the 2025 Boys Gateway League champion and he obliterated obliterated the previous

course record with a 1440. The girls team also set a new team time course record. The five scoring runners for the girls team were Gomez one, Alisa Alisa Werta, Priscilla Guillian, Grace Cvantes, and Maline Zemer. The five scoring runners for the boys team were Sandival one, Lucero five, Santi Banz, Sto, and Vasquez 10. Both teams punctuated their tremendous seasons with thrilling performances at the CIF Division 1 prelims. And those for those of you who don't know the the lower the number in CIF that the higher caliber of teams are facing. The boys finished second in their heat again led by Wim Sandaval who finished second overall in a 1430. Who's Wim? Which one's Wim? Our girls finished fourth in their heat, led by our trio who all finished uh in the top 10. Priscilla Guillian, sophomore, ran a 1717. Which one was Priscilla? Okay. Setting a new Warren High School record. Gomez 1735 and Werta 1737 rounded out the trio that finished in the top 10. With such stellar performances, both teams qualify for the CIF finals and narrowly missed qualifying for the CIF state meet. We're incredibly proud of both teams for their phenomenal performances all season. Both teams represent Warren High School and the city of Downey with such class and integrity. With so many athletes returning for the 2026 season, we are incredibly excited to witness the continued trajectory for this team. Let's hear for these boys and girls Bears teams

and I will now call you up one by one if I can have my council colleagues uh come back down and help distribute these certificates. These are the boys. These are the girls.

Okay. Thank you. Would you like to say a few words? Warhigh principal Carrie White. Dr. Carrie White.

Okay, go ahead. All right. Okay. Uh, we'll be calling up the boys team first. Uh, Benjamin Bamante.

Yeah. Daniel Carlos. Kaden Chase,

Kevin Inguanzo, Gustavo Lucero, Andres Naranho, Jaden Rios, walke Richard Santibz, Yondel stood Gel Trujillo. All right. Israel Vasquez. And for the girls team, Alexandra Ariyaga, Mia Kuransza, Grace Cervantes, Priscilla Guen, Alyssa Werta, Joselyn Romero, Lauren Santana, Maline Zeamer, Jaclyn Singer,

Kathy Gomez. Oh, yeah. She was called her by Catherine Gomez. Catherine. Um, so let's see here. So, would one representative from each of the boys and girls team like to say a few words? Is there a captain on the boys team here? or designated speaker like to say a couple words. Don't be shy. Come here. Let the cheer for Yandelle.

One second. Sorry. Sorry.

And uh my apologies. Um, I'd like to call upon the uh the coaches uh to join the runners up here and let's hear for them. For the boys cost crunchy coaches, head coach Ramon Miranda, assistant coach Anthony Praau. For the girls team, we're going to call head coach Jay Waldron. Assistant Coach Alexis Garifas, Assistant Coach Michael Guzman, Assistant Coach Ralph Cas, and Assistant Coach Aaron Tidwell. So, at this time, I'd like to have Yandelle speak and then uh maybe represent her from the girls team and maybe one of the coaches from each of those teams.

Um hello, it's on, right? Um I just want to say, um running with these guys was uh some of the best thing I could ask for. You know, I was always nervous running on that line, wearing that W, especially being on bar. That was hard. But just running with these guys was just so great. You know, it really helped running with these fast guys. I know I'm not going to be here next year when they do great things. And hopefully, you know, they're they make state and hopefully they can come back here again to get another award just like this cuz uh these guys deserve it. You know, hopefully the girls do, too. You know, they're really good. Really young squad. all around. You know, it's just it was just a great thing being to run with these guys, you know. It's all I could ever ask for. I really I really was glad when I joined as a sophomore and I'm and I don't regret it. It was the best thing I've ever done. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. And we had some um corrections here. At this time, and my apologies, I'd like to also call up assistant coach Ernesto Vasquez and assistant coach Jaclyn Singer if you can join us up here, please. It's a team effort. If I can get one of the representatives from the girls team. Is that you? All right. Let's hear for Alexandria. Good evening. My name is Alexandra Ariyaga. I'm a senior for the girls cross country team and I'd like to thank everyone that's on this team. Um, thank you to the coaches and all the staff that have put all their effort and determination to coach us and be there every single day. I'd also like to say how honored I am to be surrounded by such wonderful ladies. You guys have been so amazing all year. I joined my freshman year and this has been one of the best experiences of my life. I've met so many amazing people and I just learned so much from this. So, I'm so grateful and good job ladies. Good job. Good job, boys too. You guys did amazing. All of you, all the coaches, all the boys, ladies, everyone, you did amazing. Thank you. Okay, all kinds of action here. A lot of words, a lot of notes here. Samantha Miara, my apologies. Please come up and join us. The athletic director from Warren High.

All right. First of all, I would just like to thank Mayor Sosa and the entire city council of Downey. Thank you so much for this recognition for our teams. We really appreciate the fact that you pour so much into our student athletes and it is because we live in this remarkable city of Downey with the support that we have that our athletes are able to perform at such a tremendous level. To our coaches, thank you so much for helping prepare our athletes to be able to perform at the pinnacle of CIF, not only in our league, but in the CIF southern section. To be so competitive at such a high level is a remarkable feat. and to do this for decades upon decades. I think so many people take for granted the work and the sacrifice and the love that goes into this. Um, Coach Waldron and Coach Miranda, I can't imagine any other coaches at the helm of our programs. And I'm so proud and honored to be able to work alongside of you. And to our athletes, congratulations on such remarkable seasons. It was an absolute joy and pleasure to watch you, to support you guys at every race course. Um, to see the sacrifice, the grit, the resilience that you showed every single race. Um the camaraderie within your teams and everything you guys did to make your team so special. You were the highlight of our fall without question. The record-breaking performances um were remarkable, but more importantly just the integrity with which you guys carry yourself in every single race. Um you represent Warren High School so beautifully and you represent the city of Downey so well. So congratulations to our teams and thank you again to Mayor Sosa. We'd like to have a coach from each of the teams, Mr. Waldron, if you would want to come up. Jay, and um then we'll also have Mr. Miranda, if you'd like to say a few words.

Just a quick thank you to everybody here. Um I can't say enough about the support we receive, both boys and girls on our campus. Um to be up here in this uh arena is uh going to be memorable for me. Um thank you for making this a priority. Uh Mayor Sosa and city council. Um my administration at Warren High School is second to none. Um the staff, again, the support that we receive, uh we couldn't do it without everybody's involvement and the coaching staff. I I uh I have uh Coach Miranda will say the same. We We can't do it by ourselves. We We need as many as we can to help us out. And ladies, you did a great job. We promised uh the beginning of the year that things would be different this year, and it surely was. I'm very proud of you. Thank you. Good. Good evening. Um, I'll make it short, but um, Coach Waldron and our athletic director took everything out of my mouth what I wanted to say. So, it's like, but I want to emphasize that they're not just outstanding runners. They're outstanding in the classroom. And this was the joy of I, this is my 32nd year, and this year I'm going to remember forever. um just great athletes, person, character, sportsmanship, all that you can do. This is your future here. Whether they stay here in this beautiful city of Downey or move on, but someone's going to be um benefit benefit from their just who they are. And again, we run your streets. We used to have a shirt that said we run

Downey. Um, so it's like but city council I now I see who really runs Downey. Uh, thank you Mr. Sosa for taking the time and uh, honoring these uh, gentlemen and ladies and again we have the most wonderful we're blessed with the parents support cuz that's where it begins. And second to none like Miss Coach Waldron said our administrators have been supportive for since I've been there since and it's incredible year after year. So I have I'm very grateful. So thank you very much.

Finally, as as principal for more, I just want to um thank Hector Sosa, our our wonderful mayor, and our city council for taking the time to recognize our students. It means so much to our our staff, our families. So we want to thank you so much. Um, and we know his term's over, but we also want to recognize that you are still the mayor of Warren, California. So, we'd like to give you There you go.

I'll just say quickly, you don't know how much this means to me. I think these guys are are tired of hearing me say go Bears. So, never do this. That's beautiful, isn't it?

Take a picture. Take a group picture. Yeah. In front of the in front of the podium. Yeah. Let's Let's scoot up in front of the podium.

Yeah. Scoot up in front of the right here. One more. Let's Okay. So tell them

Oh, thank you. Awesome. Now I have to run. I have to run now. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, we have two presentations left. Thank you, Bears, for being here. I hope you don't have to run home. All right, now we move on to Chris Wro. City title and retirement certificate for 14 years of service for the city of Downey. Yes. Let me read your bio right now. Chris Wro started in 2010 as a part-timer in community services before moving to the utilities division in 2011 where she has been for the past 14 years. Chris acts as a clearing house managing all of the incoming calls and service requests from the public getting them to the right staff to provide a timely response. It's a big deal in services delivered. Whether it's running reports, helping with data entry, handling challenging phone calls, and keeping us organized and out of trouble, she who wrote this u she is always busy, but still manages to get her task done while providing a high level of customer service. Chris is outgoing, has a positive attitude, as you can see, great smile, and is often referred to as the backbone of the utilities yard. She's worked with the city for 20 years and after a long career will be enjoying a retirement after tomorrow. Her and her husband Yes. Yes. Her and her husband can't wait to join their daughter in Illinois and remain active grandparents in the years ahead. Chris is crafty, loves thrifting, going on vacations, making home-cooked meals,

and spending time with family, friends, and her pets. The utilities division has great respect for her and she always supports her needs. Please join me in congratulating recognizing Chris Wro. At this time, I'll go ahead and read this and I'll have city manager uh Roger Bradley come up. On behalf of the citizens of Downey, Chris, in recognition of your 14 years of service to the city of Downey, given the sincere appreciation of your outstanding contributions to the public works utilities department in Downey community as an executive secretary given this 18th day of 2025. Congratulations, Chris. Thank you, mayor. Um, on behalf of the organization and on behalf of the city, Chris, we want to wish you all the best. Uh, it's a bittersweet moment, of course, for us to, uh, see you move on, but of course, it's obviously a great time for you to go spend more time with your family. And with that, we want to say thank you to your family for, uh, lending you to us for so many years. Um, we've really appreciated all the blood, sweat, and tears you've put into our organization. I enjoy all the the notices that I get of all the different uh water outages and shutdowns that are going on. Uh, thank you for keeping everything running and keeping things moving forward. Uh, we wish you all the best. Stay warm as you go to Illinois. Uh, but enjoy yourself and wish you all the best. And and this is your uh title plaque on behalf of us. And give you a city pen as well. You got all the hands for this one. I want to just take

my speech. It's speech time. Yes, absolutely. Or if

I guess I will say that um I love working for the city of Downey and the guys at the wateryard are the best and I'm really going to miss everybody and it's just been a great run. So, thanks to the city of Downey for the wonderful opportunity here.

You told me you were going. You told me you were going. Thank you. Congratulations. Welld deserved.

You can put this right Oh yeah, there we go. Well, at this time, I'd like to call up uh our city manager, Roger Bradley. to assist in our next presentation, a certificate of recognition to public works department staff.

Thanks, Mayor. This is one of those times that uh we are very proud to talk about all the uh extra effort that our staff puts into uh keeping this community going. Uh this incident uh occurred, well, an incident occurred not too long ago uh on the morning of November 6th. Uh the public works watery yard received a call from a resident out there on Carfax Avenue explaining that she had dropped her $10,000 wedding ring in the sewer line. Justin Perez Estabbon Pinapons and Caesar Ratzo from the water utilities crew responded quickly and were able to retrieve it downream. So there was other things in the sewer line as well too, but they fought their way through and they went above and beyond to return the ring to its rifle owner. So, not only were they able to dig through there and find things, they got the ring back out um and returned it to its owner. So, we say thank you to Chris Christina for helping the resident and keeping her calm also um while the crew was actually out there and went to work. But want to say thank you to staff for going above and beyond and what was probably a very stressful moment for a resident, they responded quickly and saved the day. So, want to recognize them for their uh for their effort. Thank you. Please come forward. Okay, once I call your name, please join us. Um, well, you're not done yet. Chris Wro, you're not done. And and I'm sorry we extended your stay here by two hours of all those presentations. Here you go. Christina Anderson, Eststeon Penipons,

Justin Perez, and Caesar Razo. Oh,

yeah. Take a picture. Would any of you like to say a quick few words? What's it? Yeah.

I'mma test this. Okay. It's working fine. Um, I wasn't planning on talking. Um, so bear with me here as this is just free minded. Um, I'd like to thank the city of Downey first and foremost to give me the for giving me the opportunity to work here and serve the residents and the public. Um, I love what I do. I got into sewers 5 years ago and I fell in love with it the first day. Um, I'd like to give thanks to my wife Esther. She's the one who helps me be the best person I can day in day out. Um, my amazing supervisor Kenny Sto. Uh he's taught me a lot in the year that I've been here. And um my team members uh Justin and Caesar uh they're a pair of great guys and we get along well and it's like we're not even working, we're just having fun all day.

Yeah. If any family members are here uh for these employees, come on up and take a picture with us.

Well, it's right here in front of They tend to like each other. Wait, is that it? That's all the presentations? Okay, thank you guys. That concludes today's presentations. We are in for

Okay, we will Okay, now is the uh time for public comment regarding agenda, consent, calendar, and non-aggenda items.

The city council will now take public comment on agenda, consent calendar, and non-aggenda items. If you did not receive a number card and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room to be issued a number card by city staff. We will be calling blue number cards for the public comment period. Before we begin the public comment period, we would like to remind members of the audience that the city's meeting rules contained in the Downey Municipal Code prohibit any conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. Copies of the meeting rules are located in the back of the chambers. Members of the audience and speakers who violate these rules and cause a disruption will receive one warning and then may be removed from the meeting. Violations of the rules of decorum for council meetings may also result in an administrative fine under the municipal code or citation for a misdemeanor under penal code section 403. The city council acknowledges the right of the public to address issues that are within the city's jurisdiction and invites the public to do so during the city council meeting. However, this right must be balanced with the need of the city council to conduct the public business in a fair and efficient manner free from disruption or disturbance. We expect that everyone who participates in today's meeting from the members of the council here on the deis to staff to the members of the public in attendance do so with respect and dignity. Please refrain from using profanity, name calling or behaving in a way that disrupts this meeting. This includes yelling, whistling, booing, screaming, and any other outburst that disrupts or disturbs the meeting. Any conduct that interferes with or disrupts persons who are addressing the city council. Any conduct that interferes with, or disrupts council members while they are speaking. Any other conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. and attacks of a personal nature on city staff or city council members that have

no connection to agenda items or non-aggenda items. We remind speakers that your comments must be addressed to the mayor and not to any other council member, city staff, or the audience.

City clerk Darte, did we receive any written public comment to be incorporated into the record? Mayor, we did. We have one written public comment from Faras Akil regarding the uh item number 10. Um he is specifically stating that he is against changing the city council term limits. He is against removing the twice monthly requirement for regular council meetings and is against increasing contracts without ordinance approval from 10 years to 20 years. And that is all. Mayor, thank you. Is there a motion and second to receive and file written public comment to close? So moved. Please vote. Second.

The motion is approved. The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you, city. Thank you, city clerk Darte. How many speakers have taken a number? Is that the I have a total of three speakers, mayor. Okay. Based on the number of speakers, each speaker will have three minutes to to address the city council. I remind all speakers that you must remain seated until your number is called. Speaker number one, please come forward.

We got our act together correctly. Loud out there. Thought I was called earlier. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Council, good evening.

Thank you, Roger Miller, Downey Historical Society. I have sent to all of you and the school district the latest version of the Downey music video. I hope you take the time to look at it and make sure that includes everything that you think should be included. 2026 is around the corner and thanks to the Downey Historical Archives, a 70th anniversary commemorative video for the city and Warren High School is in the works. All at no expense to the taxpayer. On a personal note, I want to thank all of you who have shown me your appreciation and your own concern for my wife as she continues her roller coaster ride to what we hope is a recovery. Thank you.

Thank you. Speaker number two, please come forward. lady. Good evening. Good evening. The first man born on earth is Cain. In jealousy, he killed his brother Abel and hid his lifeless corpse in the ground. The Lord God visited him and said, "What have you done?" The voice of your brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. If the voice of Abel's blood cried out to God, how much more then does the blood of the over 64 million

unborn marters who were killed in their mother's uteruses by abortion, which soaks American soil, not cry out to God for revenge day and Tonight we are not ignorant of the devices of a satanic doctor who in his arsenal of means of death injects a syringe full of saline solution into the amniotic fluid chemically burning the baby to death. We are not unaware of the scalpel, a miniature sword to slice the baby into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. We know about the canula driven into the base of a partially born baby skull, which is then used to vacuum out the baby's brain. This is particularly evil and needs to stop. How long will these cruel miscarriages of justice go on? I could continue with many woods over many days. But I do not choose to go on in such a manner. Why should I? In a multitude of woods, transgression is not absent, Solomon. The tongue is a world of iniquity and is evil above all things. Who can know it? It is full of deadly poison. Who is the man who can control it? Death and life

are in the power of the tongue. Those who love it will eat its fruit. Paul, the doctors who take the hypocratic oath upon graduation from medical school do no harm and perform abortions. Hypocrates. Thank you. Yes sir. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. God bless you.

At this time, we'll take a two-minute recess. Thank you.

Okay, sorry about that everyone. Uh, speaker number three, please come forward. Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. City Council, happy holidays. entrenching political power. I'm here to speak on the ad hoc committee proposal recommended by the city staff and state plainly that all initiatives they're they're pretty good clean slate. uh they should be considered besides 500 and 500.1. Measure G of 2008 which would have extended term limits to three terms was defeated with 67% opposition and still you seek to erase the 1993 legacy of former council member Joseph D. Lorento. Ego is the only thing that would have a current or former council member complain about potential inexperience in leadership. Especially if those public servants emphasis on servants are trying to usher in pet projects for their close friends or themselves. read any of the public forums for this city or the measure G results themselves and it's clear as day that Downey once balanced, fair and solidified two term limits of four years each. We all know there are clear factions

within the city and pushing for power entrenching measures like this moves in the opposite direction of bridging the divide in this community. We haven't seen we haven't even seen the impact of the new district borders under section 1305. And now this initiative has the potential to frustrate down residents into disengaging from the process also hurt their wallets. I I forget who it was. I think someone said it here tonight, but um someone once said that engaged communities are strong communities. Let's not frustrate our community and work our way back to being Downey strong. Um, that aside, congratulations, Mr. Mayor, on your first tenure as mayor. Um,

thank you. I like you. I really do. I You have this very amiable um personality that inspires respect and loyalty. I love it. Um, but what I will say is where I imagine your politics are, there are two ways to go with that. I would just say I hope you focus on the part of the working man and not the other because the working man is where your support is going to come from. Have a good night. Thank you. Speaker number four, please come forward.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Sosa and uh city council members and staff. Um I don't have much to say today. I just wanted to thank you all um uh for a wonderful year and congratulate Mayor Sosa um on uh a wonderful year um as as mayor this year and congratulate um Mayor Prom uh Perton for becoming our mayor for next year. Um and just thank you all for for your hard work. We appreciate all of you guys. Um and uh we're just continuing to pray for Downey and um as the Lord continues to to guide us in his ways and just to thank you again, Mayor Sosa, for your leadership, excellent leadership and for your courage and service and really all of you guys for for your service and what you what you do for for Downey every day. We do appreciate you guys. Um and so yeah, that's what uh I wanted to share from my family and I. Again, my family are lifelong residents of Downey and we are very proud um to say that and we know that you guys have a lot to do um in us being proud of our city. So, we just wanted to extend our gratitude to you guys and your families and we pray for a very blessed year next year. Um and just a very merry Christmas to all of you guys and I pray that the Lord continues the Lord Jesus continues to prosper us in every good thing that he's called the city of Downey to prosper us in in Jesus name. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Speaker number five, please come forward.

Good evening.

Good evening. Mayor, fellow council members, happy holidays. Um, what can I say? Mayor, uh, thanks for everything, uh, for making this city what it is today. Um, I don't think you remember me from the last time I was here when I was, uh, talking about how I was profiled by Downey PD. Well, I took it upon myself to file a complaint on the officers that arrested me. And from what I was told, uh, that they don't have to read you your Miranda rightites and that they can leave out certain, uh, parts of what happened, what I said that happened. I have the police report right here. And I just wanted to bring to your attention that that was what I was told. And if those are the facts, well, you know, not really much uh, I can really say since I'm just, you know, civilian or the city. And thank you for everything though.

Thank you. Mayor, we can have the assistant city manager connect and provide a contact information so that we can follow up with the resident there.

Is there a motion and a second to close public comment? So moved. Second. Sorted by the mayor.

Now is the time for consent calendar items. Are there any council members that would like to remove or abstain from an item? Move to approve the consent calendar as presented. Mayor second. Please vote.

The consent calendar is approved unanimously.

Thank you. We will now move on to administrative reports. Now is the time for administrative reports. There are four reports this evening. Uh item number eight, the first admin report is approval of a resolution of attention to form an enhanced infrastructure financing district EIFD to establish the Downey EIFD public financing authority and appointment of members to the EIFD public financing authority. that city council adopt a resolution 25-8328 declaring its intention to establish the Downey enhanced infrastructure financing district and establishing the Downey EFD public financing authority PFA and two appoint two members to the city council of the city council to the public financing authority board and appoint one member of the city council as an alternate board member city manager Bradley is there staff report for item number eight

uh yes mayor we have our assistant city manager that will introduce the item. Thank you, city manager Bradley. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. Today is a continuation of last um city council meeting presentation regarding the EIFD and for the introduction of a resolution of intent. Today we have Joe Diegas from COST and he'll be providing an oral presentation to go over the resolution and the process for selecting individuals for the public financing authority. Good evening, Joel.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council.

Got a short slide deck. Uh, assistant city manager said, this is a continuation of a matter heard back in November. This is a discussion about a funding and financing tool available to the city for infrastructure funding and financing. Do we have this slides available? Awesome. Thank you. Uh tool for infrastructure things like roads, street uh water, sewer, other public amenities. And this type of tool, the so-called enhanced infrastructure financing district or EIFD, it's a way to capture value from future private investment, not not encumbering any of of today's dollars, but future private investment within a very specifically defined boundary. And I'll show a map. And uh we call that sometimes a form of value capture. Order of magnitude, we're talking about up to about $54 million in present value funding capacity. It's a tool that you could, if you so chose, implement on your own as a city. Many communities, particularly in LA County, take advantage of potential partnership with other taxian entities such as the county of Los Angeles as a way of getting sort of more more bang for your buck. And uh and so far the county has been receptive uh to this type of tool. It's not only the the tool that you can control locally, a funding stream that you could do things like bond against, but it also elevates your ability to go after yet other dollars, things like state grants for improvements within the community. Uh minor update, but a positive update since our last discussion in November about this tool. Um Los Angeles County Metro has uh offering a program to cities with transit stations such as Downey, and they are essentially footing the bill for this process moving forward. if you're interested uh moving forward after this evening. And so Metro is offering technical advisory through a team of consultants. Cosmon, our firm, just happens to be on that team of consultants. Uh so we are pleased to continue to be of service to you. And

it's just another way of attracting yet other dollars from outside the city for these efforts. The action this evening, it's non-binding in nature. It's important symbolically though. It sets you on the path toward formation of this type of tool. And then the immediate next step would be the county sort of parallel consideration of a similar motion, the county's resolution of intention to be your partner, which we could imagine them taking up uh in January um to their board of supervisors. So we'll go over I'll repeat some fundamentals that we covered in November. It's obviously a very specific tool. Uh certainly members of the public who wouldn't expect to be uh experts in this field. It's quite specific. Tax increment financing. We always have to emphasize it's not a new tax. No property owner, business, renter is going to see any change on their tax bill. We liken this to a retirement account where you as a city, you're saying within a very specifically defined boundary as property value grows over time from new investment. You're going to take some piece of the future property tax that you'll receive within that boundary and you're going to set it aside in a separate fund, a fund restricted for infrastructure. A big part of why many cities go down this path is if you're willing to do that, you can achieve a match somewhat like an employer matching an employees retirement account allocation. And in this analogy, the county is your employer matching what you may be willing to set aside dollar for dollar for improvements within Downey. And it's temporary for some defined period of time. And then after the district is done, all things go back to normal in terms of how the property tax dollar is split. These uh can be long-term in duration up to about 45 years in duration. You can choose to make it shorter, but that's the maximum duration per the statute. A new entity is formed. It's a key part of tonight's action for council consideration. The so-called public financing authority is in charge of overseeing the formation of this tool

and its ongoing administration. Over time, the activities would be guided by a plan. It's like a business plan, but it's called the infrastructure financing plan. And that document is required to be reviewed independently by a few different parties. The full city council, this new hybrid entity, the public financing authority, if the county is your partner, it would be reviewed separately by the county board of supervisors. And then very importantly, at the end of a public meeting and hearing process, you also have residents and property owners within the boundary. They also have a chance to protest if they don't like really any part of it. The plan, the concept, the way the process was held. Really, any of that can be protested. And so there's no vote because no one's tax bill is changing, but there is that protest opportunity at the end of the process. So we mentioned that it's a tool for infrastructure. It's a long list as far as what's eligible in the EIFD law. Water, sewer, roads, parks, affordable housing is on the list. Broadband infrastructure, and we're kind of seeing it evolve over time almost with each legislative session in terms of what is eligible. hinted at this already. Big reason why cities and counties go down this path is just return on investment. Much of the time, dollars and cents, you're catalyzing some level of investment that would otherwise not happen with infrastructure investment. And through that, you see new fiscal revenues to your general fund, as well as job creation, housing production, other measures of benefit. And then the second one, a bit less obvious, but I covered it in the intro. It's also your elevating your ability to attract yet other dollars, especially state grants. This map has sort of evolved even since we were last here in November. There about 36 of these formed across the state. Uh seven so far in LA County. It was most recently uh in Norwok in November where the county in uh the city of Norwok partnered in one of these. And all shapes and sizes. Some are transit in nature. Some are w just basic water sewer road in central valley California. All shapes and sizes. Cities alone.

Counties alone. cities and counties working together and uh and this county has been the best in terms of partnering in terms of cities, partnering with cities. No other county has partnered with as many cities as Los Angeles County has and it's a big part of the what we think is the value proposition for Downey. The map mentioned earlier, this is what we would call a very specifically defined district boundary as far as these types of districts go. Uh it's about 190 acres in total. In terms of your total assessed value citywide, it's almost zero. A lot of the land in these boundaries is uh not even on the tax roles given public ownership. And that presents a pretty good value proposition in terms of return on investment. A lot more to gain in terms of value than what you can lose since it's almost zero today. And so counties generally like that given it just like you would look at it from your general fund perspective. The county would look at it from their general fund perspective. a lot way more upside than downside in terms of partnership and what can be catalyzed in these areas delivering value and property tax and other revenues uh to all these taxing entities the city the county and also the others the currency in this tool is property tax revenues it's future property tax revenues from within the boundary and uh we always make the clarification it's perhaps counterintuitive that most of the property tax dollars that folks pay within the city don't go to the city majority go to school districts Then the county almost last on the list is the city in terms of the share of the property tax pie. That's the currency that the city brings to the table. Hence the need the appeal of a partnership with another taxing entity such as the county. Essentially getting a piece of their pie to match your piece of the pie for for projects within the community. uh the county has a policy with which they they decide whether to partner with the city or not and the proposal is is currently drafted is is checking their

boxes and and the initial conversations has been quite positive. We've got lots of funding capacity illustrations just very importantly nothing about today's action is committing in terms of dollars or percentages. This is a conversation for future uh city council consideration, but there has been a lot of analysis done to date. Uh everything on this page is sort of a what is a lesser level of development within this boundary scenario get you in terms of dollars. The next page is what is a more intense level of development and then basically you you'll have your choice in the future of how much of your future dollar you'll commit and how much you might then receive in terms of a county match and what does that get you over time in terms of dollars. In the lesser development scenario, in five years, you're a million and a half to six million bucks. Over 10 years, two 2.7 to 9.5 million bucks. In the in the more intense potential development scenario, those numbers all go up. With more assessed property value, the more funding capacity you realize through these tools. So, within 5 years, maybe you're up to between four and 13 million bucks. Within 10 years, 8 to 25 million bucks. And the way these tools work, the longer they go, the more assessed values increase, the more you're able to access through these tools. So that the funding capacity goes up over time. Again, just reiterating the point. And beyond those dollars shown, it's additionally you're scoring more points on grant applications. Again, explicitly, especially on state housing grants, they're building it into their scoring rubrics. two more points for a infill infrastructure grant or affordable housing and sustainable community grant uh for communities that do explicitly these types of tools. The state's recognizing especially the state is recognizing it's a big deal to encumber a piece of future property tax even within a specific boundary. So for that you're being rewarded with higher um scoring on their grants. I think I I covered return on investment. I won't belabor it again. It's dollars and cents, but it's also things like

housing, jobs, the wages associated with those jobs. So, a process. Um, we're still sort of in A, B, we're just getting to C. Look under the hood, feasibility analysis. Letter C is the first time this council would be potentially taking an action. It's non-binding, but again, important symbolically. The so-called resolution of intention appended to this agenda agenda item. Uh with this action you would be formally establishing this this governing body the public financing authority. Um if you take this action you would be uh choosing membership uh from your body if the the county joins you. Thought we had a slide on membership but it's not in this one. Um I'll just cover it verbally. So we're working on the assumption given the county's receptiveness thus far that they will be your partner. And that means you will be appointing two members of the city council to this governing body. The county would appoint a supervisor or the supervisor's designate to sit beside you. You would in the future appoint a member of the public. And then the county would also appoint a member of the public for a total of five members. And so the action in this item is assuming the county's partnership which all signs point to thus far. And then beyond that comes everything letters uh D through I which remains a very transparent and public process. That guiding document gets drafted. It gets vetted again quite publicly over a series of duly noticed public meetings noticed by mail by newspaper by website and then it's just sort of what are you going to do with the money over what time duration? What are the fiscal impacts? Just so that everyone in the community is clear what what is this all about? Um there's meant to be sort of no secrecy. Those were some of the criticisms of the old redevelopment agencies in California. This is meant to proactively address all of that. Uh potential finish line we think could be summer, maybe July of 2026 where the

district is fully formed if you do continue down this path. Oh, here's the slide. So yeah, so assuming the county's partnership um you would be uh two members of the city council, you would appoint one additional as a alternate just in case uh someone cannot attend the meeting as an example. And then uh when the county takes its companion motion, hopefully January, they would appoint the supervisor or her designate and a member of the public just like you would appoint. So that's it for tonight's presentation. I'll be I'll be very happy to address questions, but um I think I covered what what's on the agenda for action. Um thank you for your time.

Thank you, Joel. Thank you for that um the detailed presentation. Uh I'm encouraged by the uh the progress that we've been able to make with the uh the county and supervisor Hans's office. Um a lot of that falls into the uh the Rancho South campus which does fall in district 2. So really encouraged by the progress we've made with the with the county the supervisor's office and the county CEO's office. So at this point I'll go ahead and open it up to my colleagues for any comments or questions.

Thank you uh mayor uh and thank you for the presentation. And I think this is again timely uh report as we look at you know this council worked on um you know Downy's uh you know the next 5-year plan um and where we want to be in terms of uh infrastructure improvements and also economic development and I think this council has been focused on making sure that we move forward. There's so many opportunities in our city and looking at this report, it it's a no-brainer. Um, making sure that we have uh allocated and substantial investment for future projects um as it relates to development and in infrastructure. I think this is this is a an important step forward uh for our city. And as I read the report, um, knowing that Metro, um, will pick up the tab of approximately $65,000 uh, for for this and the consultant. Um, from the get-go, I think, why why would we not support it? Um I uh with the mayor uh I've been part of the South Rancho campus uh development for several years and again that is that is an important project for our community certainly for South County and um I would like to be one of the council members uh involved in this project. Thank you

colleagues. Any other questions or comments?

Well in I too have read this. It's it's an interesting it was new concept to me in the formation of it and the financing authority that's going to be formed of letting our residents know it's not a new tax. That's the first thing they like to see. It's it's not a new tax. Um it's a smart way to leverage um and not using our existing um assets to leverage uh bonding ability um using this fund for infrastructure like the roadways and such that need to be done. you know, we have the metro station last mile coming through. That's very costly. Um, and so yes, it's just a lot of good pluses. You know, we've had it already established like you've shown all the other counties that have been formed, including six in LA. So, it's already been tested and other counties too are seeing the benefit.

Um, and like I you mentioned, it doesn't encumber any existing resources. Um, and having someone that has been involved with more with the state with our county representatives, I could see that both Mayor Sosa and uh, Councilwoman Frometa be uh, be the members in this representation as you have more experience in dealing with certain areas in the past with them. That would be my recommendation to move forward and appoint the both of you if my colleagues might agree. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Was that a motion? Uh, Mayor Proen Peton. Um, yes. I'd like to make that motion. Okay.

And that motion would include adoption of the resolution as well. Make sure that's Yes. adoption of resolution 258328 and appointing the two members of the current council to be um, Mayor Sosa and Councilwoman Frometa. I second that motion. Uh, do we have to name an alternate tonight? Yeah. Would anybody Yes, it would be best to select an alternate. I I would uh I would nominate um Council Member Odas Ortiz as an alternate. Okay, we have a motion and a second. That was an amended motion to uh nominate the U alternate. Alternate. Yeah. Yes. I

I second her motion. Okay. Please vote. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you. date Dorothy. Oh, sorry. The motion is approved unanimously. Writing lots of notes. You don't want to forget things. Thank you, Joel. Now, we'll move on to item number nine, economic development action plan update. Let city council receive receive and file an update regarding the city's economic development action plan. See, manager Bradley, is there a staff report for item number nine?

Yes, Mayor Austin Ramirez, our economic development director, will conduct the presentation.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for your time tonight. Just wait for the slide deck to Thank you. The item before you tonight is an update on the proposed economic development action plan for the years of 2026 through 2028. The development of this plan was informed by discussions with economic development stakeholders, a citywide business survey, uh, as well as a market demand study prepared by the Natal Dale Group as part of the general plan update process. I'll provide an overview of the survey and study results, as well as the proposed actions with within the plan. The ultimate goal of this plan is to not only capitalize on existing opportunities and support our existing businesses here in Downey, but uh also to position Downey to be an ideal market for continued investment in the future and to attract new businesses. To start uh with the business assessment survey, that survey was available for approximately a month from October uh through November in English and Spanish. We contacted businesses directly uh through our business license contact list. We reminded them politely uh once a week to continue to uh participate with the survey. Staff also personally visited businesses throughout major commercial corridors and our major retail centers throughout that month-long period. Uh the Chamber of Commerce, thank you Michael, uh also shared the survey with their members as well. And so we were able to receive a total of 135 responses. respondents uh represented a a wide variety of businesses in terms of the size of the business, the age of the business and the type of business. Uh which was a good thing. We wanted to see a variety of perspectives, a variety of experiences. You can see it for the number of employees and the size of the business. it skewed heavily uh very small one to five employees and less than 20 employees was the um next

largest sector of respondents and then the um rest of them were comprised of 21 to 50 51 to 100 and a few 100 plus large employers. The age of the business also skewed heavily uh to older businesses that had been in Downey for more than 10 years and then medium-term uh four to 10 years with a a small uh minority of businesses being less than 3 years. The type of business uh also varied. Uh it did lean heavier towards um uh retail and professional and office with uh good representation from restaurant and healthcare sectors as well. There were three main areas we were trying to assess with businesses. Uh we wanted to know about their current conditions, uh their resource needs and their future plans. So for the for the first area of assessment with current conditions, uh one of the things we asked was businesses to rank the top three reasons they wanted to locate in Downey. Uh as well as to rate Downy's business climate. The top three reasons uh by far were proximity to customers, the community's reputation, and uh freeway access. I think those three really speak to Downy's ability to draw in regional c uh consumers and to be a really a commerce destination uh for Southeast LA and LA County. Um our placer data showed that in 2024 we had 7.1 million unique visitors come to Downey. That does not include uh residents or people who work in Downey. Those are people who are coming to Downey to shop at our businesses, uh, receive healthcare, participate in our education system, conduct their own business, or simply enjoy what our community has to offer. We also have very strong brand loyalty, as a as a store would call it, um, of those 7.1 million, on average, they return to Downey nine times per year. So, we saw over 61 million visits uh, come through our our city in 2024, and we're set to

exceed that in 2025 as well. When asked to rank Downy's business climate, uh, more than 60% of respondents rated our climate as good or excellent. 35% rated it fair with a small minority ranking it as poor. And then some of the other current conditions we were trying to investigate more. Um, we asked them if community events, festivals, or tourism promotions positively impact their business. This is citywide, so we were surprised to see this result to be honest. Um, more than 50% of businesses said uh no that uh events, festivals, and promotions did not positively impact their business. I I want to point out the phrasing. We did not say does it have a negative impact. We said does it have a positive impact. I think it does remind us we need to be thoughtful citywide about the events and festivals and the the tourism promotions we we do here. But it also, I think, points to an opportunity to find ways to better support our business community uh through events and promotions. We also asked businesses to identify their three biggest challenges that they're currently facing. Um number one by a mile was cost of doing business. I don't think that's surprising to anyone, but specific examples included wages, insurance, supplies, and food and beverage uh materials, particularly for our restaurant sector. um state regulations and competition were a close tie for second when we reviewed these results with the Chamber of Commerce and the DDIA and some of our other businesses in town. Competition was actually something that was noted repeatedly. Our uh business offerings are so so strong if you're not a business that has a unique product or is not engaged actively in promoting yourself, it's really really hard to be successful here in Downey. uh following that uh competition uh workforce availability, public safety and tariffs uh came up around the same amount of time. Public safety particularly around the impacts of homelessness is something that came up

repeatedly throughout the survey. And then city permitting and supply chain issues rounded out the list in an effort to better assist our resources our businesses and focus the types of resources we offer businesses. Uh we also asked them to rank um eight different types of common resources. Uh the hope was that we would identify a few to really focus on and what we learned is that they're all equally important. It just depends on the size of your business and how long you've been in business. And so when we filtered for those variables um for newer businesses, what they uh ranked in terms of priorities were marketing, promotions, workforce resources, training, and networking. You can imagine if you're a new business, those three things are vitally important to your success. older businesses. It was public safety infrastructure fee wavers. You probably don't have to worry about what some of those new businesses are worrying at that point. We also saw differences uh between the size of businesses. Uh small businesses uh prioritize marketing promotions and grant and loan programs. I think that's startup capital is something that came up multiple times. Medium was infrastructure and workforce resources. And then large was public safety and infrastructure. So when we looked at that collectively, older and larger businesses tended to prioritize stability and fiscal sustainability, which I think reflects the sort of position they're in as an experienced business. Uh while our newer and smaller businesses prioritize growth and day-to-day operational issues, the last uh sort of area we're trying to assess is what businesses are thinking about as they look ahead into the future. Um we asked them what their plans were over the next three years. uh more than 75% of businesses said that they were planning to stay the same or expand which was a good thing. A small percentage planning to close or relocate to another city. And then within the next 12 months when we asked them about that business outlook about 35% of businesses expecting uh moderate to

strong growth. Uh 53 expect stability and only 12% expect a decline in in their business. Uh based on the national discussion on the state of small businesses and commerce, um we thought these were actually good good signs of our local market and our economy and the health of our businesses. There are obviously things they're struggling with, but they continue to see Downey as a really strong market as reflected by uh their responses to the final question on the screen. Would you recommend Downey as a good place to do business? Uh overwhelmingly yes. 24% unsure and uh one or two businesses uh said no. that um if you remember the community's reputation is one of the main reasons why businesses want to open here. So I think that speaks to uh that reputation continuing and and how important it is for our attraction and recruitment efforts. The second policy document or body of work that informed uh the economic development action plan was the land use market demand study by the Nanosen Dale Group or TNDG. And really that was to evaluate demand for new development across five sectors through 2045. Retail, office, industrial, hotel and housing. Uh I want to point out the goal of this study was to determine economic feasibility. Is there enough demand in our market to support growth in these sectors? It doesn't take into consideration certain types of market conditions or certain types of market limitations uh or some of you know statewide policy goals or anything like that. This is truly what do we think our market could currently support and what could we do to increase that demand. The first and most significant um section for the economic development action plan uh is uh projecting retail demand. So TNDG projects that the consumer market in Downey can only support approximately 800,000 uh square feet more of retail space based on

current limitations. 800,000 might sound like a lot. Uh when we look at our uh planning queue as well as projects we are currently working on, um that 800,000 will be built out within the next few years is what we predict. So there's really not an over supply of demand. We're going to meet that pretty quickly. The first limitation uh that affects that demand is our really local and regional um population growth is expected to be stagnant through 2050. Some projections are showing a decrease but very very little growth as it currently stands. That um also affects the second limitation which is limited purchasing power within the region. Uh Downey enjoys strong median household incomes but as we know when 61 million people are coming through our economy on a yearly basis we rely on those dollars to continue to fund our local businesses. And so um not being able to to have population growth or new consumers um ultimately limits uh the the demand. It's a finite supply. Uh growing e-commerce is something we'll we'll talk about here later. But that shift is also changing uh demand for physical retail space. We are seeing some retail leakage as well. uh particularly um Downey consumers are choosing to uh spend a significant amount of their dollars in Long Beach and Cerritos. The specific retail categories where that leakage is occurring is in uh clothing, home furnishings, appliances, and motor vehicle dealers. I do think that's consistent with the strong retail offerings in Long Beach and Cerritos such as Los Cerrito Center or Cerrito's Autosquare. But that does leave opportunities for us to identify types of retailers that uh we could bring to Downey to encourage our consumers to keep those dollars here in our community. I do want to point out though despite these limitations our retail growth

history or our history with retail space in Downey is impressive. Uh if you look at the chart uh between 2014 and 2016 uh that spike that you see is from the prominant and landing coming online. Uh we our retail space growth uh outpaced the national market southeast LA and LA. we still have outpaced Southeast LA and LA and the national uh average retail growth has just finally caught up to us. Um so we we've been able to uh leverage the success uh to this day. That success does have some uh growth pains I would say. Um you know Downy's builtout condition and high market demand does create really low vacancy rates across all retail sectors. That does drive up our square foot lease rates. That's something I often hear particularly from small businesses and entrepreneurs. They want to get into our market and they just can't. So, we have high barriers to entry that we need to be aware of. Um, and because we have such a robust retail sector, we also do feel and see some of the changes in retail happening at a national level. There's a few of those changes I'll go over. One of those is that really there's a a shift in the types of retail space uh retailers are looking for, particularly the size. So the average retail lease in 2025 was less than 3500 ft². Uh 80% of all transactions are 5,000 ft² or less. Leading that demand is uh national fast casual and fast food franchises, many of which we already have here in Downey. Um but you know that is also what drives up the cost here in Downy's particularly along our arterials and makes it hard for some of our um smaller businesses and mom and pop type restaurants or retailers to be able to buy their way um into our market. We're also seeing this uh as our our former big box retail spaces that are now vacant are being subdivided. So, we're seeing our property owners and

we're encouraging them to rethink what those larger spaces look like. The the benefit there is not only do they fill those spaces, but they're able to choose from much higher quality tenants than those that are typically uh looking to fill the big box uh retail stores. We are seeing still the strength of Downy's market though when we look at projects like Round One. Uh those are taking I mean that's going to be a flagship store here here for round one filling that threetory Sears. Um we're seeing really good progress as well with some of our other big box uh vacancies on Firestone. So um not not all doom and gloom, but it certainly makes it more challenging for us and our uh commercial property owners to attract quality tenants. Uh some of the other changes happening at a national level that we're continuing to feel here in Downey. Um for the first time since the last recession, store closings exceeded new store openings. That's a a national statistic. So we've seen some closings here in Downey. Um we're hoping we don't see more, but uh it's definitely not helping us open new stores here in Downey. Physical storefronts are also downsizing. We're seeing existing retailers, they're really turning their physical space into more of a showroom. uh with some back of house fulfillment centers to help accommodate and drive the e-commerce sales that are continuing to grow. Uh and then really when we think about competition and competing markets, retailers are shifting their investments to the sunb belt. Those offer lowcost and high growth markets. We're not competing against other parts of of LA County at this point. Um, in fact, because we have a regional economy, it would help us if the rest of LA County and Southeast LA was able to advance their economic development initiatives as well. Um, the Nordstrom Rack example, you know, 18 new locations planned, only three of those in California, none in LA County.

I'm sorry to hear that.

That's a great So, you know, we it's just something to be aware of. You know, we um we're really not competing against our neighbors. we're really competing against other markets that are cheaper, faster, and and more profitable. Um, and then I included a quote here from one of our commercial property owners who's very active in leasing, not only in Downey, but throughout the state. Um, and what he said was, "In my 40-year career, this is the worst leasing environment I've ever seen for anything larger than 5,000 square ft." Uh, it doesn't mean anyone's giving up. It just means it's becoming very hard to attract highquality tenants. and something we're continuing to support our commercial property owners with as much as possible. The next section we looked at in the demand study was housing. Uh we obviously have limited land available in Downey there. Very high construction costs, but we have an overflow of demand to live in Downey. We're a premier community. Many people want to live here. It's also reflected in our vacancy rates. When you compare that against the county and state, we're less than half of the state and much lower than the county. Uh Natal Dale Group projects that there is demand to support an additional 3,000 units at minimum at this point in time. Uh the projections reflect higher density project uh products and the introduction of residential into what have formerly only been retail corridors. So when we talk about mixed use, not the vertical mixed use where you have retail on the ground floor and residential above, it's putting residential in commercial corridors. This also assumes more aggressive policies both locally and statewide to meet Rena obligations. Uh it's important that we look at the new residential development that's being proposed throughout the city as not just something that addresses the housing shortage, but it will be the single most important economic catalyst for our community and the primary way we're going to generate sustainable revenue growth as we're going to be built out here completely pretty soon.

Some of the reasons why we're considering an economic catalyst, I've mentioned the the shift in e-commerce and the growth there. Um I think we all shop at home. uh the point the home is a new point of sale. It's generating sales and use taxes. Uh it's also e-commerce is also directly tied to uh a present physical retail presence. It's not replacing it, but uh the way we're seeing retailers transform their uh physical storefronts is increasing uh and further increasing the the growth in e-commerce. So right now uh almost 20% of national uh retail sales uh are made up through uh online purchases. That's almost $300 billion uh represented there. Um sorry I lost my place. The other thing to note is that it doesn't look like that uh growth is going to change. Uh in 2025 um the growth of digital sales uh outpaced intore sales 8% to a little under 2%. The other ways we're seeing increased residential rooftops uh help economic development is through uh the support of our existing businesses and helping us attract new businesses. That's one of the reasons why the Sunb Belt is attracting so much investment and so much new retail. It's where the majority of the US population is projected to move over the next 20 years. Um so it's a way to to support our our local businesses. It's a way to recruit new businesses. Um many of our employees reported the lack of housing inventory as a workforce retention issue. Um the map here from from Placer uh rep is uh representing a healthcare employer. I can't disclose to that employers privacy reasons but I wanted to include it because it shows approximately where their employees are commuting from. Um the healthcare industry is particularly important for us to try and uh locate those employees uh here in Downey to become residents because the healthcare industry uh is experiencing the highest wage growth of all industries right now.

So when we think about increasing our median household income, our per capita income uh in order to better attract high-quality retailers, uh we need to to look at how to improve those factors here in Downey. Downy's power retail centers all express support for new residential development. They see it as new customers to continue to support their growth. Uh we've talked about how the lack of population growth is a significant barrier for new businesses. Uh another thing Natlesendale Group noted is that restaurant demand is reaching a saturation point in Downey. So the long-term viability depends on new population growth or new consumers coming to Downey. So we can do that in a few different ways. Um the most effective way is to locate more people within our city. uh demand for office, industrial and hotel uses uh was modest um particularly in the office and industrial use uh areas. Uh that's due to a few factors. Limited regional growth, shifts in the office sector, and for industrial, more available uh inventory in neighboring cities. So they're projecting really only an additional 50,000 square ft of office and an additional 150,000 ft of industrial. Those are relatively small for both of those use cases. Uh hotel demand is modest but shows the potential to add between 100 and 172 hotel rooms. This aligns with our hotel development plans for the back 20. Uh so once that project is complete, we'll have pretty much captured all the the hotel demand we can in our area. That's limited not only by the the lack of land, but also four other hotel projects planned in the region that are going to capture some of that market share. So we've gone through the research and the analysis that went into this. We're now moving on to the action plan itself. We continue to be a really strong market, but we are at a bit of an economic crossroads. We're about to be a fully builtout community. We have a history of economic prosperity. What's

fueled that in the past is physical growth, new industrial, new commercial, uh new healthcare, new office, we won't be able to do that anymore. And so when we look ahead and we think about uh the opportunities created by shifts in consumer behavior in the retail industry, we think about some of the generational global sporting events that we're fortunate to have come through our market over the next few years. Uh and we think about these really large acreage development projects that uh any city would be grateful to have one of and we have two between the back 20 and Ranchelos amigos. Um we feel we can maximize the value of our existing land. We can recapture some of that spending leakage that's occurring and we can certainly leverage new housing as as an economic catalyst to continue uh to enhance our position as a regional economic engine. Our first priority is around maximizing redevelopment opportunities. We have such limited land inventory. Um what we facilitate on any developed or undeveloped property becomes increasingly more important. I'm only going to reference the goals and then uh the bolded actions. Um but the uh first goal there is to continue our efforts to redevelop Ranchelos Amigos. Uh we heard a lot about the EIFD tonight. I I just want to point out a lot of cities are establishing an EIFD. Very few have tangible projects to begin applying this tool. And so not only do we have an EIFD here coming shortly, but we'll also be able to leverage it and use it and put it into practice. Our second goal is to continue our efforts to develop the black the back 20. Uh we are making really good progress with IRG, our our developer on that site. Um we're hoping in this upcoming year to secure approvals from not only the regional waterboard, but also Kaiser Walmart and Northwood retail to develop uh residential and hotel uses on the site. And then uh one that we're continuing to shift our focus on is to initiate redevelopment of the historic NASA Volti building. We're hoping to

acquire that property from Northwood Retail in the upcoming year. The next priority focuses on our downtown core. Um it's really turned into the community central hub. We have our annual signature events. Um we're attracting regional consumers. Um our placer data shows that in 2024 we had 6.7 million visits to downtown alone. Uh 75% of of all visitors live outside of Downey. So again, speaking to that regional appeal and that regional draw, we have a vibrant nightlife, a well-established nightlife. So future efforts uh will focus on bringing family-friendly amenities and businesses that drive increased foot traffic during daytime hours. If we look at our visitation data, right now it does skew towards Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. We don't want to decrease that, but we want to see how we can balance that uh across other amenities through downtown. And as we've seen in the survey, we do need to be thoughtful about how we mitigate the impacts of events and street closures on our downtown businesses. Uh the first action I'd like to to just point out is um continue providing in kind support for legacy events that our chamber of commerce uh put on for the community uh as well as Angel City Market. And then the uh second goal I'd like to to highlight is um we have a alley in downtown that's been newly refreshed by our public works team. We've got some lights. We've got some benches. The DDA is working on a mural. We'd really like to uh identify a vendor to activate that alley and bring a new amenity to downtown that complements our other businesses. Our next priority is around marketing and branding. when uh when I meet folks who aren't from the area, who aren't familiar with Downey and we're trying to attract them or uh increase our our sort of value proposition with the national and regional development audience. Uh oftentimes what I get is like the fabric softener. Um and then after telling them

how offended I am, I tell them, you know, within 30 miles we have five major airports. Uh we have four major freeways. uh we have the two most critical ports in the world uh not that far away. We have you know 63 million out ofmarket visitors come through every year. Uh and then they start to ask okay what kind of land do you have? What kind of space do you have? And then that's a different conversation. But um we really want to try and elevate our value proposition to uh beyond our local and regional development uh community. uh not only to diversify that community but try and bring new types of business offerings to Downey that don't currently exist here. And so uh next year we'll be bringing back to council a refresh discover Downey brand. It's going to be a consumer uh facing brand outward facing brand that is really designed to attract new visitors to Downey, consumers to Downey um and investment to Downey. So uh I mentioned that here we're going to create a new portfolio of economic development marketing materials uh for our targeted recruitment efforts, our regional uh conferences and industry events. And then also as we shift to supporting our existing businesses, really expanding our shop local and shop small marketing uh to occur throughout the year with a focus on those retail categories I mentioned that are vulnerable to that spending leakage as a way to help recapture that. Our next priority uh is regarding retention, expansion, and recruitment. really the strongest economic advertisement commercial uh for your community is the success of your existing businesses. So much of bringing a new business here to Downey or any community is based on word of mouth or they they do what is smart and they look at who's currently successful. Uh what is their relationship like with the city? What is their relationship like with regulators? And so we're really fortunate to have a robust and diverse economy across multiple sectors. But

it's critical we continue to invest resources uh in supporting our existing businesses as well. Um I mentioned one of the bolded goals is proactively identify and recruit emerging industries. Um there was a time when that was biomedical and at this point biomed um has has shifted. it's really sort of locating itself in sort of dense areas of uh research institutions, venture capital, um more towards academic institutions. We're really lucky to have a robust healthc care sector here in Downey. And so I think we want to take another look at biomedical but also think about are there other emerging industries we could bring to Downey to support uh our existing businesses. Then another thing we're excited to do to help with the retention and expansion of our existing businesses and a new sort of ability for us is when we look at our revenue data sources and our placer data, it's quite predictive. Uh it allows us to identify uh already struggling businesses or businesses that may be struggling in the near future. And so one of the things we want to do is start conducting proactive retention visits to provide timely interventions and resources uh to support our businesses. oftentimes we get a call from a business and it's too late. So, we're about to close. Uh I'm I'm in too much debt. It's really hard to help at that point. But if we can help provide resources before they reach that tipping point, that's something we'd like to do. Tourism and hospitality growth is another priority identified in the action plan. Uh really triggered by the World Cup and the Olympics. We also feel like with that market demand for uh around 150 hotel rooms, we've got an opportunity to build that out and secure long-term toot revenue. Um for uh for these global events I've mentioned, uh we'd really like to secure rights to host an additional an official FIFA fan festival here in Downey. You can think about the exposure that would

bring to our community. And so how do we turn that one-time sort of exposure into repeat and returning visitors is something we're going to focus on. And then also uh just continuing to redevelop the back 20 with that hotel use. Our final uh priority here is around incentives and best practices. And when we talk about competing markets, this is really where we stand out. This is how we encourage them to stay in California and to return their focus back to Downey. um it other parts of the state, other states, you know, they are becoming increasingly challenging for business and industry. And so what's key for us is that we offer a welcoming, predictable, and streamlined environment that supports our existing businesses and our new businesses. Targeted incentives and operational best practices informed directly by our business community can combine for us to create a solutions focused and businessfriendly culture. Uh you can see our uh recently award-winning planner Jerry Clement Day there on the screen. I appreciate the planning team uh so much. So much of what makes our city welcoming to businesses and great for our businesses happens at that counter. Some of the goals I want to point out, we've talked about the EF EFD uh quite a bit tonight. Um the other thing just given the priority for public safety from our businesses through that survey is uh to continue to provide responsive and proactive assistance to businesses through the city's step team. Uh they work day in and day out. They coordinate across the city in order to mitigate the effects of homelessness and to help property owners uh better understand what their rights are. So next steps for us uh many of these actions are already underway. Um the action plan attached to the memo uh includes timing for each action. Um we've also identified additional items for further consideration. One is to continue to explore fee waiverss and reductions in fees for entrepreneurs, veterans, and small businesses. We'd really like to conduct an industry

cluster analysis to again identify emerging or new industries we could bring to Downey. Uh we're going to develop KPIs or key performance indicators for each area of the action plan and pair that with quarterly performance assessments to monitor the plan's progress and then also uh develop eligibility criteria for businesses seeking financial incentives. Um with that concludes my presentation, but I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Oh, that was a that was a great thorough report. A lot of encouraging news in there, a lot of good facts. Um, Austin, I want to I'd like to commend you for that. That's I know you worked hard along with Vana, Sergio, and Eric in some pieces. Uh, that was a a tremendously um detailed report. So, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. We appreciate that.

I I just want to say bravo. I really think this is a excellent report. very very detailed and I I really would like to um share this uh with our community. I don't know how many of our residents are still watching us uh online, but really when you talk about successful, wellthoughtout cities, well-run cities, um this is it. Again, this council worked on Downey Strategic Plan, the Downey forward plan 2030 in 2024. It was this council and it this staff, we are all looking at the overarching goals, you know, the the strategies, the initiatives so that we can move Downey forward. And um one of the things that really stood out to me, Austin, um in your presentation is is right here out of this report. Uh beyond addressing a regional housing shortage, new residential development will be the single most important economic catalyst for Downey and in the coming years. Right now, we talked about the the rise of e-commerce. We talked about the changing landscape in retail and and consumer spending. Um so we really need to be thoughtful about how we are going to tackle that in this report. The analysis um that was provided and those key performance indicators those are going to be key uh for lack of a better word getting um really gauging and measuring um where we are. What are the action items? Um because whether some of us are are

sitting in these chairs or not, that just really provides the the it's it's the driver to move this city in in a direction that we want to move it. And again, being very thoughtful in looking at um what are some of the what are some of the challenges? I would like to know um some of the those graphics uh those graphs were really fantastic by the way. What are the um I know public safety came up uh small business, larger businesses, you know, really looking at ways to address that. But also um and I know my council colleague is gonna ask that question so I won't steal that thunder. Um, I want to know how in what ways can we help them? I know they say the the lowering of fees, but what other ways can we help them be successful? What what other engagement do we need to do? I know we've talked about in the past and and I know it's not necessarily on our agenda, but related to this uh administrative report if our downtown businesses are you know one of the graphs that you mentioned was do the community events or the you know are are those making a difference or do they how do they feel about it and the the uh the answers were not as positive as we would have thought. So maybe I don't know if the night markets

you mean positive out of positively impact their business 52%. So again I think as a council these are also good opportunities for us to maybe agendaize and look at do we move the the the night market so that it's not so impactful to our downtown businesses. Um, and again, I know this report encompassed I think the Chamber of Commerce provided 138 responses if I'm not mistaken. The the total response was around, but they shared it with their members.

And again, downtown is not necessarily reflective of the entire city. But if we this really gives us um good opportunity to to maybe make some adjustments. But all in all, I think I really hope our community um and our residents delve in. I know the Downey strategic plan is online and they can access it, right? Because engaged communities are strong communities. We want to make sure that our residents know this is great discussion and I wish we would have had it when we had a full, you know, full council chambers, but um I digress. I think this is excellent uh an excellent report and I'm really proud of the work that you have all done. So, thank you.

We're happy to post it online, by the way. Thank you. So that we can then share it and reshare it. People need to know this stuff. You know, we are we are really working hard to move our community forward and and we are being um we see the trends. Um some of us are online shoppers more than in-person shoppers. But uh in the marketing um I would like to find out when when are we thinking of the rebranding um to come into focus? Q1, Q2? Q1. Okay. Q1. Yeah. It'll it'll come back pretty quickly in the new year. Okay. Thank you. That ends my comments. Colleagues, any other questions or comments?

Yes. Uh I do. Thank you, Austin, for the presentation. I really appreciate I was really diving into it and um I contact you a lot of uh retail and businesses. Uh my colleague Dorothy always says, "How do you know about this business?" I'm calling him every time and asking him. Uh but I I do have a couple questions, so bear me bear with me. I I know you if you can go back to some of the graphs you had early on um that says age of business and type of businesses there. There we go. So that that graph that caught my attention a lot because I you you talked a little bit about the challenges

and I want to know what are the challenges that new businesses that come into Downey, what are they facing? because I I was looking at this graph and um you the information says that out of the six out of the 134 inserts or uh people responses that you received were current businesses right current businesses that I faced 66% of those uh are uh more than 10 years of 10 years or older and um I'm a business owner so 10 years ago the business market was completely different than they are today. And so I I I want to I wish I can understand a little bit more or there is there any way for us to get receive data of how uh and what struggles are these new businesses coming into our community or are attempting to come in? Um because the information that uh that received and the following slide it says right there um next slide. I think we should have a clicker right here so we could go. Um and then the issues that they face well the New York businesses is obviously as in any new business comes in their biggest issue it says right here in the report is uh marketing promotions and grant and loan programs. And the reason why they receive grant and loan programs or they're looking for that is because I mean they they're starting up the fees uh the to

cost of business the cost of business uh regulations all all this to support uh a new business and obviously marketing and promotions. I I really want hopefully in the future that we can promote new businesses that come in into our community as a city. Um but I I really want to understand the the struggles that new businesses want to come in. What are they facing? What I want to see that because uh these businesses have been here for years. Almost 60 90% of the people that we surveyed are here been here for four or more years which is a different time than that. Mhm.

So, is there any way we can get information of that type of Because if we really want to make a a economic development action plan, well, I want to make sure that we can support these new businesses coming to our community.

Yeah. No, it's a it's a great point and our data is only reflective of who responds. We get a much better indication of what entrepreneurs and new businesses are facing when we host our uh annual business workshops because those are advertised to entrepreneurs and new businesses. their challenges start before they even open a business. Um there are two reasons for that. One is uh most people that are opening a small business or or entrepreneurs we've learned in our experience uh they have a really great product. They don't know how to run a business. They are really good at one thing which is how you start a great business. But our technical assistance workshops help give them that structure to create a business plan to know what it means to hire someone to know what it means to pay someone. uh what sorts of liability come with opening your business, how to find a location for a business, how to submit a permit to the city, uh how to apply for funding because a lot of people I think expect grants or loans to be really easy to get and at this point postco they're just not. So, it's really the business fundamentals we see the biggest needs for. Um we offer site selection services to any any business that wants to come to Downey and most of the people we meet with for that are small businesses. They're often shocked by how much it is to lease a space in Downey, whether it's large or small. The reality is that's because of the success of our market. There's so much competition. Our vacancy rates are so low. Um it does pose real challenges for small businesses and even some large businesses. When we talk to Dutch Brothers, that's often what they say, like we just can't make a site work in Downey because people are asking too much. The leases are too high. Um, we are seeing a sort of price correction in our per square foot lease price. We exceeded state and national averages at one point recently. So, we're starting to come down to something that's realistic. We don't want to be undermarket, but we do want to be realistic so that new businesses can come into our market. Um, we're going to gear up for another series of workshops

for small businesses this year. um when we showed uh you know this slide here um you know th those are what the newer businesses and the entrepreneurs are struggling with. I don't think it's it's also it's not a coincidence that most of the people responding to our survey are established businesses. What we've seen is when someone's in the really in the early stages of running their business, they don't have time to do a survey. They really don't. It's part of why we had staff go in person because they couldn't complete a survey, but they could have a quick conversation with our staff, but it's something we want to continue to monitor and continue to survey our business community to see how we can help.

You know, you touched real quick. How long did the business assessment survey take an individual? Oh, that was that's Oh, that's what I was going to ask. So was it was it a online 5 minute or 20 minute or we went for 5 to seven minutes to we're really trying to capture someone's attention um just because we know even if we want to ask more in-depth questions we're not going to get quality

participation. You know what I would like to if if I may, what I would like to also see us um as as a city, we have um one of the highest grossing uh Nissan dealerships in the country, Downey Nissan and Downey Hyundai. We've got, you know, the the highest grossing um Raisin Canes and and Chick-fil-A. We we are a city that that is certainly the Macy's as well. But um what I would like us to do is also partner more heavily uh or closely with our Downey Chamber of Commerce and so that we can elevate both uh elevate the chambers presence and and us uh a that we are we're a businessfriendly city. Um but we have to have again these are great strategies to be able to have that marketing that um that new phase. We've got to elevate Downey uh in in a different way. Uh you this report says it's not just on the retail but again the the housing and the housing development and the housing mixeduse. I would like us to to do that. I think Downey as the 10th largest city um in in in the county of Los Angeles, we have a great opportunity here and we have a chamber that has been around for decades as well. And I'm pointing at Michael over there. Um but I think this is this presents a good opportunity for us to to grow.

I And then just to follow up, I I know that you brought up Dutch Bros and what was I don't want to mix your words. You said the reason why it was so hard because there's no uh we're already out space, right? Very very limited uh vacancies and we've gone through multiple sites with and Dutch Brothers are just one example with every retailer we want and oftent times the cost is so high to either purchase or lease that land that they can't make the development pencil. It's just not economically feasible.

So then it just made my mind just go a little further. if we already spaced out and there's no vacancies. you brought up a slide that talked about uh our retail and big chains and we have all these and maybe I'm I'm going to speak out loud that a lot of my residents or a lot of uh community members reached out and said well we have 78 Starbuckses we have uh how many McDonald's and how many of these chains is that really benefiting our economic progress or is it hindering or because look we don't have Dutch Bros as an example just right now because we already have limited space. So I I want to understand if if if is a good thing that now we're having another raising hints that's coming up in our community or is it really hurting us at the long a long long-term goal of our community?

I don't want to discourage investment. I think for first of all I just don't want to discourage investment from any uh operator in Downey. It makes complete sense why those franchises want to have multiple locations in Downey. when you look at the sheer tens of millions of people that come through our market,

uh, does that create achievement costs or challenges? It it certainly does. Um, I would also just point out that those businesses, even if they have six locations in Downey, making up a number, uh, those generate significant revenues that support the services that make our community a great place. So, I I don't want to discourage any of that. I think the key and the the piece of education that we continue to focus on is actually with the property owners themselves. A lot of property owners see what the prominade or the landing or even Stonewood are charging per square foot and think I can automatically charge that and that's just not the case. Um they have to be realistic about the site they own and what they're trying to attract and whether they'd rather see it be vacant because that's what's happening. And so we spend a lot of time talking to our property owners respectfully, but showing them market data to show here's what market rate would be and here's how you get a really quality tenant that the community is going to embrace and support.

Yeah, I'd agree with you. It's just that relationship between both. And I remember I was telling my colleague Claudia like the last thing I want to do is say I don't want any investment in our community. But the I honestly want to make sure that I can plan out for my community long term and see what's feasible because a lot of our community members always reach out for businesses to come into our community and then we're limited. We're already spaced out and so but Austin, I really appreciate this this information and and thank you for the hard work you did.

Thank you. And just one last thing I would like to add that um with housing and housing you know mixeduse developments in mind um this is also uh and I'm sure you're thinking about that uh Roger as as well as everybody else um looking at our infrastructure and making sure that we have we have that planned out um with more housing developments there's more people and again we need that tax base we need those tax revenue But I I can just hear the rest of our residents. What are you doing with the traffic? What are you doing with um you know sewer lines, water, electricity, all of these things. But

can you Austin just to do a quick comment about Trader Joe's? I know that's Sure. I thought we were going to go the whole night without mentioning Trader Joe's. to do at least one considering that the residents were yelling at us at the uh well not not in a bad way but saying where's Trader Joe's when we're doing the Christmas like two people we're still working on that and I'll yell back it was like two people I heard 67 more at the the parade 67 okay

yeah I think it's important for the community to know we have not given up uh every vacancy uh in Downey is something we connect with those property owners and we pitch to Trader Joe's for the consideration. Uh we even look at sites that are not currently vacant but are underutilized.

Uh at this point that we have very specific site selection criteria to work with. Uh I don't blame Trader Joe's for being that specific. They're Trader Joe's for a reason. They have a really great product. They provide a really great experience for their customers and they try and protect that at all costs and that starts by by choosing a quality site. Um they want to be in Downey. We want them to be in Downey. We're continuing to work on that. I get your DMs to the community. I get your emails, your calls. I also get yelled at coffee shops when I'm having lunch. Um, we're we're working on it. And I appreciate the community's enthusiasm and support. Thank you, Austin. I appreciate that. I think sometimes the community gets a little confused that we don't get to pick

who comes here. They It's a free market. Our job is to hope hopefully incentivize and find out what the barriers are and help to break those down. And that's really what this is all about. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Um Austin, I will now entertain a motion in a second and receive.

Well, I I just want to I want to also say it's a great report. They've said chain chimed in with everything, but you know, at a restaurant who moved in, no names mentioned, couple years ago said, "We came here because of all the franchises, each of the franchises, their top 10 store is in Downey." And so that's something to said about the traffic that comes through and we're a destination city. We've been doing things right and I think we will continue. I don't have a problem with multiple franchises. Say fast food drive-thru. That's me. I I don't want to sit in line. It helps the community. Everyone is in a hurry. They want to go. And I think also too with shopping, you mentioned the e-commerce, people still like to do the malls, the brick and mortar. Um, and I think the more that we get traffic on the freeways of surrounding areas, they're going to stay closer. They don't want to travel so far and spend 1 hour driving. So, I like the shop local that you're going to try to promote. again. Um, and keep keep our shopping in here in in Downey. Um, and what anything else? I think that's it because mayors are ready. But thank you. Very good report. I think it's good detail and glad to hear what the what the businesses are saying.

Any other questions or comments, colleagues? No. Let's make a motion to uh receive and file. Second. Please vote. That was a great report. Really, as you can see, we were quite engaged. Those are the best reports. Oh, it's Yeah, it it's not. There we go. The motion is approved unanimously.

Thank you. We'll move on to item number 10, report of charter review ad hoc committee. that city council one receive and discuss the report of the charter review ad hoc committee to determine what potential charter amendments, if any, will be submitted to the county voters for the consideration at either the June 2nd, 2026 or November 3rd, 2026 statewide election. And number two, if any amendments are selected for voter consideration to provide direction to city staff to prepare the resolutions necessary to place the amendments on the respective ballot. City manager Bradley, is there a staff report for item number 10? Yes, mayor. I'll turn it over to our city attorney to uh provide the presentation. Thank you.

Good evening. Okay.

Good evening, mayor and council. Tonight is the report of the charter review ad hoc committee. Um, this committee was formed by the city council for the specific and limited purpose of reviewing the city charter on a top-down basis for any potential amendments and modernization. To my knowledge, I don't think this task had been completed before. Over the years, there have been proposed amendments to the charter. um in terms of single amendments or peace meal amendments, but um I believe this is the first time the charter has been studied on a very holistic basis to consider any potential amendments and modernization that might be necessary um over the years of the life of the charter. Uh the committee members have been mayor Sosa and Council Member Foretta. Um this committee met several times between in the summertime between June 2025 and September 2025 with the assistance of city staff. I should also note that we had um input and um partnership with outside council Jim Priest. Um he's a city attorney um outside city attorney who has a long history with the city and is very expert and proficient in the business of city charters. So he was able to provide his input as well and answer questions by the committee. So tonight's report that I'm delivering on behalf of the committee is really the culmination of the committee's work. Um it consists of a series of recommended amendments um as explained in the report itself and actually depicted on the redline version of the charter that was attached to the report. Um just a few comments about the city charter, I'm sorry, the city charter. Um I think we've we've made some of these points before, but just generally speaking, charter cities are a creature of state law. They're authorized by the state constitution and their main purpose is to afford cities greater local autonomy in local affairs um in affairs that are not considered statewide affairs but municipal affairs. One such example is the conduct of our

elections um which charter cities have more control over. We are one of 121 charter cities in the state of California out of 483 total. Uh 483 cities that is uh we first instituted a charter form of government in the year 1964 8 years after the city was initially incorporated. Um significantly a charter can only be adopted, amended or repealed by a majority of the voters. Since the charter's adoption in 1964, there have been 14 amendments um considered by the voters. 11 of which have been approved. Uh the last amendment was proposed in the year 2014. Um the recommendations by the ad hoc committee. Um tonight the committee is recommending amendments to 35 sections of the charter as summarized in the report itself and in the red light version of the charter. Most are technical or clean up in nature and serve to modernize a charter. For example, to conform it or align it with state law that has changed over the years. The more substantive amendments um have been asterisked or bold-faced in the in the report and explained in greater detail. All of the proposed amendments are final recommendations by the committee except the subject of term limits uh where the committee has advanced different options for further review by the council. Uh by a majority vote tonight, the council may select any or all of the amendments to be placed on the ballot for voter consideration either at the June 2026 election or the November 2026 election. And the decision tonight I just wish to emphasize is just that I'm selecting if um any and all amendments to go forward to the voters for their consideration and the timing of that. No amendments are actually being enacted tonight as that can only be done by voter approval. I should also probably add that um by sending any amendments to voters, the council is not necessarily taking a

formal position on those amendments. All it's doing is electing to send those voters or to send those amendments for consideration by the voters. Um I've just um highlighted a few of the salient points for a term discussion if the council wishes to have that. um as this was really the only proposal that was not a final recommendation of the committee. Um just a few things to highlight. Our current system um is a lifetime maximum of two full terms where each term of office is four years. A full term means 50% or more. Um term limits, I think as was noted by a public speaker tonight, uh were first created through a 1993 charter amendment. Before that year, we did not have any term limits. Um the last amendment or the proposed amendment to term limits was in the year 2008. Um and that amendment proposed to extend term limits to three consecutive terms with a 2-year cooling off or two-year waiting period. Um in 2008 that amendment was not approved by the voters. Um for tonight, um the primary fork in the road, if you will, is really if an amendment is desired and how long. Um and those options appear as different versions of subsection A of section 500.1 of the charter where the term of office would remain four years. Um the first option is to stay the same um and have no change. That would mean we would continue with a lifetime two-term limit. The second option is a lifetime three-term limit. Um the third option is a two consecutive term limit with a four-year waiting period or a three consecutive term limit with a four-year waiting period. In either case, um whether term limits are kept as they currently are or if they're changed, they do operate retroactively, which means prior periods of service or past service on the council will count towards um any term limits provision that whether it's changed or not. The timeline for voter consideration, um

the charter amendments, if selected tonight, could either appear on the June 2nd, 2026 election or the November 3rd, 2026 election. Those are the next or the two earliest occasions on which charter amendments could appear. Um this is because charter amendments have to appear on an election that is statewide in nature. Um rather than say a special election just called for our purposes. The charter amendments must be approved by a majority of voters to take effect. Um there are certain procedural resolutions necessary to place the amendments on the ballot. These must be adopted no later than February 24th, 2026 um if the June election is selected or at a regular July meeting if the November election is selected. We're bringing the report tonight or I should say the committee is bringing the report tonight um intentionally at this time to um provide enough runway for either one of those options. In terms of what the ballot measure would look like, um if the council elects to send any um adjustments or amendments to term limits for voter consideration, staff recommends that those amendments be packaged separately uh so the voters can consider those as a standalone measure um so that they can be separately considered and not impact any of the remaining amendments. Um any of the other amendments selected would be consolidated into a different accompanied measure um because they really are just technical or cleanup and they often serve to simply incorporate state law. So in total there would either be one or two measures if if any amendments are selected tonight. Um as terms of the effective date the charter amendments would become effective when filed with the California Secretary of State. That step would be taken immediately following certification of the vote by the county. So tonight's action items um there are two to be specific. Uh one is to receive and to discuss the report of the committee and determine what potential charter amendments if any will be submitted to Downey voters for

consideration at either the June or the November 2026 election. and if any amendments are selected for voter consideration, provide direction to city staff to prepare the resolutions that are necessary to place the ballot um to place the amendments on the ballot. So, those are the two action items tonight before the council. Um, I do wish to note just before I finish the report, um, and answer any questions that the committee or members of the council may have, there is one slight typographical error in the redline version of the charter that was attached to the report and that's in section 1211. Um, section 1211 speaks to the threshold for contracts that are subject to public bidding. Um, that is proposed to be raised from 15,000 to $75,000. There are two instances in that charter provision of $15,000. Only the first was corrected. The second reference to $15,000 should also read $75,000 and that's in section 1211. Uh but with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that the committee um or that the council may have with respect to the proposed amendments um and address any other concerns otherwise.

Thank you. Uh city attorney Funk. Um I'll say as a member of that ad hoc committee um I did have the uh the honor of sitting in those meetings. They were very thorough meetings and uh the charter uh review uh was long overdue. Last time we did one was in 2014 and u I can share with the public that a bulk of the time uh was spent on um cleaning up and clarifying some verbiage and language um in the uh charter. Uh but I can tell you with respect to the u extension of term limits that's uh that's simply not a recommendation of the ad hoc committee.

We're discussing that tonight because we couldn't come to a consensus and uh we respectfully disagreed on that topic. So we felt it was appropriate to uh discuss it as a council as a whole and because uh we uh are to discuss it as a council as a whole we have to do it in a public format. So, at this time, I'll go ahead and open up to my colleagues for deliberation. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor, if I may. Um, this was certainly, and I think it was over 20 years that this uh our our constitution, the city's constitution had not been looked at. And one of the things that we wanted to do as as the mayor indicated is to clarify verbiage but also looking at vacancies. Um, as you recall, we had the first recall in our city's history. And we could not appoint, we could not do anything with a recall seat because our charter said we couldn't. And so we then engaged in in an expensive uh recall and in vote. And we wanted to make sure that as this city moves forward that some of these uh line items uh respect to vacancies uh in respect to uh contracts execution, contracts restrictions that the language is clear. Um because certainly some of us uh will not be here for years to come and it is important for a city for a well-run city to have cleaned up and and streamlined processes but certainly um have a constitution that has been voted on with amendments by the residents of Downey, but that we that we have clarity um and and that hadn't occurred in a very long time. Um, I will pause here and let my colleagues um give their their thoughts and opinions on this, but I'm certainly very proud of the work that we did. Thank you, John. Um, and

thank you, Mayor Sosa, for the thoughtful work on this um on these amendments for our Downy's Constitution. I'd just like to go ahead and add u that um I I believe that uh serving two four-year uh terms is sufficient uh for our positions as elected officials here in the city of Downey. And uh for me, I have no interest in um extension of term limits here in the city of Downey. Colleagues,

I I I'm actually going to agree with my council colleague. you know, being in going to a lot of uh contracts uh events or uh meetings outside our cities and and I hear what other cities struggle with their finances, innovation, bringing new fresh ideas and what I found common in those is that either they have no terminal limits or have longer years and that's a problem when we we extend our years here. Uh sometimes we lose that motivation, that accountability that our residents place upon us uh because we get so used to it. And uh my personal opinion is that I think it's uh we we have eight years uh we have 8 years to really make change and uh and I think it's a good amount of time for us to really make good change to our community and it holds us accountable and make sure that we can really deliver to our community members. And when I see communities that have 12 unlimited, I feel that they lose a little bit of that connection to their residents when they make decisions here in the DAS. And so when I got it here is to really make change for my community. Uh and I have eight years to do that and I think we can accomplish those in eight years uh uh up here. And I do have a question because maybe I in this report I didn't see it. you brought up uh a conversation about recall and that I did

in vacancies in vacancies and when I uh one of the issues that we saw is that there was a lot of uh during that recall there was a lot of issues uh uh with uh uh making decisions or votes. Uh but I did not see that if a recall is made that you can uh appoint somebody or maybe I misread that. The current uh charter does not allow us to do that in the revised version. Um and perhaps John you can point us to that. Uh we can take a look at where we clarify. That's section 503 because I went in depth also with our city attorney. Look at section 503.

503 vacancy. Oh, there we go. And also um for the record um I brought up the issue of term limits not because I'm interested in continuing on another term but in contrary to u my my colleagues opinions yes 8 years can be a significant amount of time to effect change however as we have been discussing all along it's I'm on my seventh year and we are just now moving inching forward with this the Rancho South campus development. There are really important developments uh and projects in a city in a city's life that require individuals with a a great sense of understanding um financial um financial knowledge and experience. And what we have been seeing also in other Southern California communities, when you have um individuals that don't have that experience, they can quickly turn a city into into something less ideal. And so I think that for purposes I think my my colleagues have seen with their involvement uh in the board of directors. So various regional um and even state uh leagues or state um bodies the first four years we can affect change absolutely but when we are looking at the long-term um stability of a community and projects moving forward it does you do need that extra knowledge to be able to do that. I

always like to to think there's there's a great um council member um that I've served in various boards and commissions with the league and and others. And

while I agree with you uh council member Ortiz the some individuals may be complacent but that complacency may come in year three of their four-year term or that complacency may come in year six after winning a reelection. But the most important thing I think we need to think about is residents will vote or will vote out who they want or who they they don't want. I think my my desire not because I would like to run for a third term. No, not at all. um but to give this city an opportunity to have seasoned experience and individuals that understand uh this community. Um we see it can be a little difficult these days to find quality candidates um going to public uh office particularly when these positions don't pay and and we are all you know handling our full-time jobs. So I again I I just want to really underscore and I want the community to understand a why we created the ad hoc committee to review this uh city charter and two why it is that uh the consideration for ter term limit discussion. Ultimately, the majority of this council will decide whether that is something that we want to push forward for the voters and we may be exactly where we are right now. The voters may say absolutely not. But at the same time, um, I do want to I would like to think, uh, our Downey voters are are are smart enough to to either reject this or approve this. U, but at least give them an opportunity to do it. It's not going to be at an additional cost to us because we're already

including um the amendments of the rest of the uh of this of the charter. and our discussion can be put him on the June uh election or the November election. I would like to see them as uh John indicated separate uh so that one does not impact the rest of the amendments that we've discussed.

What is the cost difference between um having it or not having it? Uh the ter limit option right there I think it's 26,000. That's what I calculated here because like you mentioned I'm sorry as you mentioned it's already going to cost us for the changes that we do need and as it's stated here on fiscal impact if we choose this in June it's 469,000 but if uh term limits are not included it's 443 but if we wait till November to put this on the ballot then the cost would be 372 or adding the term limits 404 so it's ins significant. It's not much. There's a cost savings for November. I'd like to ask the committee, was there a a a preferred uh a preferred election cycle that you would want to see this on?

Certainly. The um the the most cost effective manner that was that's what we uh had discussed, right, John? Okay.

The reason for I just should add the um the smaller differential is that if term limits were included in the package of amendments the council selected to send to the voters for their consideration that um volumewise that's a much smaller ballot measure. Um whereas the other 34 amendments um would be this will all be included for the voters to see the redline versions. And so those other 34 amendments collectively are about we estimate between 15 and 20 pages. So that's really what drives up the cost um with that with the package of those what I'll call the omnibus type amendments. Um and so the the added measure would just would only really have um you know one or two pages that would summarize the the uh changes to the um term limits. Yeah,

I can say I mean if we did go that route, I mean having this on the ballot in June would be an unnecessary uh waste of taxpayer dollars. And um my stance, if I haven't made it clear, is I'd like to keep the term limits the same as they are right now.

And just to I want to actually have a conversation with my colleague. I know you mentioned uh I I think CO was an abnormal moment in our community and in our nation. It just just it it just changed everywhere. Uh but you know coming into this role uh when you said we need seasoned uh individuals to really take the mantle for MOS and I'm I feel the people that I've appointed to my commissions I have a commissioner here at did did she leave already too my public works commissioner she went to celebrate

she went to celebrate but I feel that my role is to really elevate them so when I do decide to step down or I turned out that they're in the best position to be in this role u I and I think that's what happens with uh not only local governments but in higher office where there is no succession line and we forget that we need to kind of elevate other people to these positions. So, I'm confident with the individuals I have in my committees and hopefully one day uh they do decide to take that position and and follow my role and my leadership and say, "Hey, you know what? This is the opportunity for you guys to take this this new position and kind of follow." And I feel that that's that's also our role. And sometimes when we're in this position, we forget that that's their their purpose

to really be p put in that position. Oh, absolutely. And I I don't think I don't think we forget. And I don't think they forget. I think some people don't ne don't necessarily want to be an elected office. It's very different to be an appointed commissioner than running for office. It's different situation. You know, we can definitely appoint people that that we think we see qualities of of leadership, but I think the the question is do they want to do this again? Do they want to be a public servant in in elected office and be committed to to something like this? Um I Yeah, but I you bring up some good points.

I'd like to say that, you know, looking not as an elected looking on the outside in term limits. Absolutely. Because if there is somebody that isn't engaged for the city, then they could be there for a long time. Um, and like you, everyone mentions, you can vote them out, but a lot of times they don't know the behind the scenes of what's positive or negative, and it just looks good on a flyer that goes out. Being now in this role, my second year, I've learned from many cities that the cities that don't have term limits, um, 20 years, 25 years, they're stagnant cities.

Exactly. They're stagnant cities. And that's a long term. However, you know, with the eight years, eight-year period, um, yes, you get started, then you get things in motion. What I like about, and and I see it differently in that there are many that I've spoken with at events that have said, "Oh, yes, I I paused. I learned of this pause period, this cooling off period." If somebody, in my opinion, somebody is engaged in the community and they take a pause. Let's bring in some new uh new blood into this or some a new elected official. um if they're still engaged in the community after that four-year period and they want to come back and they still have a lot to offer, I don't see why it shouldn't be allowed that they come back with the knowledge. If somebody's not really involved in the city and want to do that after four years, you won't see that person anymore. I think they'll be gone. They won't keep that succession going. But the break allows someone new and fresh to come in. But if there isn't anyone out there, so many people say, "I will never run. I can't afford to run this and that.

You you gain so much experience after the four year, 6 year, 8 year that you can't just as a maybe a business person doesn't understand how the municipalities run and how they work.

Um we see the inside detail and that's very valuable. You you can't learn that in any kind of a class. So but the pause element say having two year two successions and then a pause and then doing it again. It's something I'm finding out that other cities do. Their elected officials have that system in place versus no term limits. That that's something I don't see at all. You have to have term limits somewhere or stop them, you know, stop that particular um elected and allow someone to come in. So, there are a couple options. And again, it's not us making that decision. We feel that most people say they want the only the eight years, but since we're already putting on the ballot all these changes, I would never maybe put it out for a single vote. Right now, it's kind of like a catch-all. We're seeing again if the community has that flavor to say, "Yes, we want term limits. Keep it the way it is." So be it. That should sit for a good number of years. But perhaps if they also understand that we've had some maybe past community leaders that might want or in the future take a pause, do their eight years, take a pause, and then maybe try uh be elected again or run for election. That gives them that break. I think that's a way to kind of test the system and have the best of both worlds. You're not losing someone that could really be an asset again to your city.

I I agree. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Uh D I I think that is I think all of us um believe in term limits. Uh certainly not having any uh presents other issues and other potential complications. But uh to your point um the two-term limit with a pause uh is something to think about. The only thing I would say about that because I thought about that a lot is that what I fear if we do this uh eight eight years then pause then they run again that we're going to bring in politics to our community and there's going to be this inner fighting between who's the best candidate between both with both positions and I think we've our community has done really good job in removing ourselves from local politics And it gets it gets pretty dirty. It gets pretty bad. And that's what I don't want to bring to our community here. And by doing so, let's just say let's just say for an example, Claudia gets turned out and I'm running in Claudia's district and then she runs against me. It brings in this bad politics for our community that I think we don't want in our community. As an example, I'm not going to run.

That's not happening. No, I'm just saying as an I the one thing is I don't want to make sure that we continue to move our community to the right direction and remove all the bad that other cities face. But remember and and this is not something we are deciding. We are giving the voters um that option. So I I will say that uh you know what all three of you bring up uh great points. Ladies, you bring up uh very valid points, but I I respectfully disagree. Um, I am uh convinced that the current set of term limits for two four-year terms in the city of Downey is is sufficient and we can get a lot accomplished within that that amount of time. So, I'd like to keep the same.

I agree with you, mayor. I think two terms is enough. Um, we already voted in 2006 on measure G, which is what was proposed, the break was two terms and a break, and we already voted on that. So, um, for clarification, is item is proposed charter amendment number two the only one that applies to term limits? Um, term limits have selected to be presented to the voters as council member would be a standalone measure. You're asking and of all the proposed amendments which are 35 of them only item number two applies to the term limits.

That's correct. It's section 500.1. all the other amendments. Um just to to reiterate and underscore our final recommendations of the committee, it was only term limits as Mayor Sosa pointed out um that was elected to um provide to the council for a fuller review and a further discussion by the entire council.

And I I will say that I'm sorry I will say that um you I commend my colleagues. This is actually really healthy deliberation uh for the public to see. Um, again, we uh we decided to uh bring this up um in a public format uh so the council can discuss it and I'm quite pleased with the uh the deliberation. But um my my stance is clear on this topic. So, with that said, I'll you have you have more to Well, I'll make a motion then that we uh keep term limits as they currently are uh status quo and that we remove proposed charter amen member number two from the list.

Well, uh can we clarify what uh can we reiterate what number two is? And so number two as appearing on the I I think council member Truhill is referring to number two as it appears on the table um the summary table um which describes all the proposed amendments and number two is section 500.1 pertaining to term limits. So, um, if I understand his motion correctly, it would be to send the balance of the amendments, the 34 other amendments to the voters for their consideration, um, including the small typographical error that I pointed out in section 1211, just for clarity.

Yes. So, if we want to partition that out, mayor, um, it's it's your call. We can talk about that. But I also want to talk about talk about on the table proposed amendment number 12, length of contracts. Um, so mayor I had a comment for that too, but go ahead. Yeah. Okay.

My concern on length of contracts and um I know there's many circumstances where contracts in perpetuity obviously are very negative and we look out for those. There probably is situations in which a lengthy contract for the city um might be the best option, but I'm concerned about granting such long contracts to any vendor or any vendor that we contract with. Why the Can you tell me what the reasoning is of going 10 to 20? It seems very long to 20 years. What's the rationale be that? What's the discussion? It really has come down to um a practical matter. Council member Trujillo. We do have some contracts that are fairly gar variety. Um I'll name one for example, Laser Fish. Um that is the provider of our electronic archives for city records that um I'll stop short of saying that it it's in per perpetuity or has to be in perpetuity, but it does continue from year to year. um you know because the seamlessness is very important and it's not something that is practical for um staff to return to the council um you know even after a 10-year basis and so we thought or I should say the the committee felt that a fair balance was to go from 10 to 20 that would still guard against an excessively long contract that I think you're contemplating or describing um and and put some guard rails on uh a very lengthy contract but still provide staff some flexibility to leave in place some of these contracts that are necessary to you know sustain the life of the city kind of behind the scenes if you will. I don't think this is this was not intended to um promote or foster you know any um you know long-term contract that that might be done with any you know ill intent. It was really just to um you know to allow

some of these contracts that are existing from year to year to be in place for a longer period of time without staff having come to the council for approval. Okay. Thank you John. Yeah, the micro that's what I had inquired earlier and you had mentioned the micro fish which kind of makes sense in that respect but and other other examples include software licenses. Um for example um you know the city does have some very key software licenses say enterprise um enterprise software programs and licenses that that do need to stay intact from year to year and so that the software remains live and active um to support city systems. So that's another example of um an agreement if you will that would remain in effect possibly for more than 10 years.

And I think that it's important John to specify um this recommendation is not just to you know every contract uh go in this direction. Uh I think that that raises the alarm um for community perhaps. So I think it's explaining um what this what this actually is is very helpful. And I will say from a practical perspective, we rarely bring right now it's at 10. We rarely bring anything over five years at all for any

Yeah, that's a very good point um that Roger makes. Our typical practice is to do say three plus two, a three-year agreement with two one-year renewals. Um there are some exceptions to that, but for most professional services agreements, that's the typical scenario. Okay, with that more commonly than not, I would say probably over 90% of the time, I am prepared to make a motion, mayor, whenever comment is the appropriate time

on on item 900, and I know I mentioned it and discussed it on boards and commissions. I want to make sure there's a clarity on the public works committee. uh the public the park and recck commission. We have a planning commission. We have commissions but when I was on the public works committee we were not the commission and it specifically had said in standing appointment of boards and commissions and perhaps we also want to say committees because it was explained to me by uh Mr. Norris how we don't make that uh decision policym like other committees. I know we have a a committee member here, Miss John in the back, but the public works um is not a commission. They are a committee, a board of committees per the the bylaws, which I took a look here. So, if we want to just denote any of that or just make a notion a note right now for that. So, standing boards and commissions or committees, that's the probably our only committee we have.

Okay. And that's certainly um if that's the council's pleasure, we can certainly introduce that item into this proposal. That's right. It's committee member. They are committee members. Public works are not commissioners. So So just to clarify, there was a a motion and uh the the motion was to uh well receive and file the charter review. Um and then also uh and remove item number two and also add the stipulations that mayor prom pet uh just added. Did that does that make sense? Um just to clarify um I believe the mayor prom is seeking to introduce the word

it's item number 19 on the summary in section 902. So the red line would read each of the standing boards, commissions or committees shall consist of not less than five members just for clarification. Yeah. And that would be that would be reflected in 19 and 19 20 and yes in 21 21. So we're adding committee to 19 and 20. Three different levels correct. No 19 20 21. Yeah. 19, 20, and 21. Oh, you're right. Keeps on going. All right. There's a few things going on there. So, are we clear on are we clear on the

reading the report? You see, we did our diligence. I'm just saying are we clear on the uh on the motion? Um, so I I think maybe just to summarize if I may quickly. So in in in with respect or relative to the sections themselves, the numbered sections, section 900, section 902, and section 903, um, the council is seeking to add committees to the FRIDs, boards, and commissions. Yes. Okay. And so that would be reflected then in the proposed amendments in sections 900, 902 and 903 which correspond to the um number of the amendment in the tables itself.

So with respect to section 500.1 on the uh the term limits, would it be fair to say just to keep it the same as they are right now as as opposed to just removing them removing that item? Uh yes, that would be the effect of council member Triho's motion um by removing that item. Um that would not be sent on to the voters for consideration. And the effect of that was would be that the term limits would remain the same. The lifetime of lifetime two term limits for each term of office is four years. Okay. And can we also say that we put this on the November election and not the June? Yeah. Yeah. That's part of the motion. That makes dollars and cents.

I did just want to briefly address if if the council um will allow me um just the question that arose briefly or the concern about uh the prior scenario where we had where the city had a recall election and the recall election was necessary and then the separate election was necessary following that to replace the recalled council member. um that is being changed by the um by the amendments to the charter and I believe a question was asked where and it was pointed out. It's in section 503 just to be specific. Um that first um those first two sentences require the scenario that I just described. Um the vacancy shall be filled first with a recall election and then the election of a candidate to fill that vacancy must take place through another election following that. That is being eliminated. Um, and any vacancy by the council now will follow state law. And that state law is that the council within 60 days can appoint someone to a vacancy or call for a special election. It can go either way. It doesn't have to have an election though. And that's a vacancy in the council. However, the vacancy is created whether by recall or another manner.

And this that was an important amendment or that is an important amendment. I know in the city's uh with respect to the city's uh recent history, I believe that is correct. Um but I I can say um represent confidently that the report um of the committee is accurate. But I would also like to um give the committee any other opportunity to make the remarks or wishes to um just because this is um the culmination of their efforts um and it was the culmination of several hours of work and I just want to make sure that the committee is able to uh express any other concerns or remarks it wishes to uh before the full council. Well, no, it was a it was a lot of work, a lot of it was a very thorough review and um uh you know, I'm satisfied with the outcome. So, there there was a motion. Unless there's other any other comments, I'll I'll second that motion. Um can I just clarify the motion um only because I I do wish to make sure that um you know, we identify exactly what's going uh toward the voters or before the voters for approval. Um so um council members motion just to summarize is to send all amendments um to the voters for their consideration at the November 2026 election um with the exception of proposed charter amendment number two pertaining to term limits and also with the amendment to charter sections 900 9002 903 to include the word committee.

Yes. And then finally with a slight typographical correction in charter section 1211 from 15,000 to 75. That's correct. So there was a motion in a second. Please vote.

The motion is approved unanimously. Okay. Thank you. City Attorney Funk. Now we will move on to item number 11. Appoint the mayor prom and the mayor for 2026. That city council appoint the mayor prom for 2026 and appoint the mayor for 2026. City manager Bradley is here staff report for item number 11. Mr. Mayor, this is an item for council deliberation and discussion. If it pleases the council, I'll turn the time over to you and to your colleagues for conversation. Thank you. Uh, so I'll come out the gate and for the, uh, position of mayor prom, I'd like to nominate council member Oashi Ortiz to that position.

Second that. I'll second that motion. Please vote. Wow, that was fast. That was quick. I'm honored. The motion is approved unanimously. Congratulations.

I'm sorry. MPT. Now we'll move on to Mayor

Mayor Sosa. Um I'd like to start this conversation and I am as I've said in our last discussion I feel that experience on the dis is important and we are up here making decisions what's always best for the city and normally you know we don't always have a we do have a certain rotation but that doesn't always uh seem to be in the same process as prior years sometimes the rotation is this way or that um I think for the city the most experienced person in this next position might not be me. And I would like to have again I I brought this up several years ago. Um I would like to offer or not offer I would like to nominate uh Councilwoman Frometa. I don't even know if she would take it. But again, as I said two years before, you know, her term during CO is almost a doover. In a COVID year, we had uh we had um Zoom meetings. We didn't have inerson meetings. It was very chaotic. It was an unknown time in our city's history. Um there was also another time where we've had the council chambers unrest and with her leadership she had to deal with a lot of that that was in here every week or every meeting that we had. Um she had led our city when we had our force manager resignation when we had um vacancies coming with our staff. She helped guide everything through. There were so many different situations that us as you we've learned from uh mayor, former mayor Trillo, from you. I feel that council member Ortiz and I coming into this position can learn again from another experienced person that would be at the helm and showing us their way of

running the city government. Um, it's been a tumultuous year and again I feel that when you make decisions like this, it's not just for me or a name or recognition. I've been working hard this past year as my council member has, I can still continue to finish up what I've been doing in my district so that when I get the opportunity to be mayor that I'm now have encompassed all the experience from everybody up here. But I would like to see and sit up here and watch council member Fetta as a mayor and how she runs things on the dis. And I if if it's uh if she would accept, I would like her to be the next mayor for next year. It's her final term. We both uh Councilman Ortiz and I we have final we have more years that are left in our term. But with all the prior years that she's navigated, we had a speaker that was awarded a legacy award and and they too were saying the same things of prior years and how it just wasn't she's made this calm. She's run this shift. She's brought the city back, hired all our staff of the upper level. We I thank you, Councilwoman Fermenta. You've really done a lot. But and the city knows it, too. So, I just want to give you that opportunity. I want to give you that opportunity. Is that your motion to nominate Claudia from

It is my motion. Okay. It's the commendable of you. I I'll second that. I I know she's busy, but I just want to put it out there again. I'll second that. Please vote. If I could just be heard. Um I have to say something about you, Mayor Prom. You're one of the hardest working colleagues I've ever sat with. You're very thorough. Uh, and while I appreciate the council woman fora has wealth of experience, um, we have a rotation, we have a tradition here that we have upheld in the city. Um, so, um, with that said, we can go ahead and vote, but I kind of feel like you're selling yourself short, if I may note. Thank you.

I I appreciate that. I remember hearing on a a podcast uh um former mayor Brosmer said the same thing one time when it was his turn that he stepped back and he let somebody else do it for of whatever reasons that was. But I think that's that's how I feel. Well, if that's what you feel, I mean, that's pretty commendable of you. I I think it's was pretty much yours for the taking, but I'll have to give it up to you. That's uh commendable of you if that's if that's what your um your belief is. Um so, anyways, you made the motion. I second. Please vote. Thank you, Mayor Prom.

The motion is approved with council member Trujillo voting no.

Congratulations. The city council meeting is now adjourned in the memory of former city of Roseme council member William Alaron who served more than two decades on the city council. Mary Luis Burkstrom Robersonson, retired DSD teacher who was honored tonight possumly with 50 years of service and police officer Alexander 28 of the Al Alhhamra Police Department who was killed in a vehicle crash while on duty during the pursuit of a stolen vehicle. A moment of silence, please. The time is now 10:24. This meeting is adjourned.